CoC : Taarma - Remnants of a Tormenting Black Shadow : Review

Taarma - _Remnants of a Tormenting Black Shadow_
(Suffering Jesus, 2006)
by: Quentin Kalis (5.5 out of 10)

I can appreciate that recording an album in Afghanistan is not easy, especially when you are the sole metal artist there and are unable to rely on the postal system to get your material to the outside world (apparently, it was only because of the wonders of the Internet that Black Emperor Jorgezai was able to get these songs outside Afghanistan to the Canada based label). However, I have to judge the album on its merits, and the overwhelming problem irrespective of anything else is the shitty production -- far too bad to be even considered "necro" or "true" or whatever. It really does sound as if it were recorded in the network of caves where Osama bin Laden was supposed to be hiding, and disguises what could otherwise be a potentially decent, maybe even good entrant to black metal.

There are other issues I could comment on, such as his use of a drum machine, but they pale into insignificance against the context of an absolutely shitty sound. Also included is a Xasthur cover, and given that comparison, I can discern that Taarma has a future as a black metal band; but this album is doomed to be a mere footnote in metal history, as the first metal album ever released (so far as I know) by an Afghani act.

Contact: http://www.sufferingjesus.info

(article published 24/7/2007)