The Moshville Times - Review: Arroganz

[avatar user=”James” size=”50″ align=”left” /]You like Death metal? You like someone bawling “Lucifer” at you? Then this is the album for you!

Joking aside, this is one of the more interesting albums I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this year. The fact that it’s from Germany and a newer band makes it all the more intriguing. The band in question is Arroganz, which formed in 2008. This is their second full-length album released via FDA Rekotz. The hellish and morbid, Tod & Teufel.

The cover of this album is a stark contrast to the King of Asgard one, featuring an eye being held open by chains whilst light is shone into it. This stands out to the mind as being an album that may be quite abrasive and to be honest, it is.

The production of this album is in line with some newer Black metal albums. Heavily distorted guitars and bass with very dry drums. In comparison with most modern metal albums, you can here the bass reasonably clearly. With regards to the vocals, on the faster songs on the album they can seem lost amongst the thrashing guitars and drums.

Kicking the album off is the hellish “i.d.t.n”. Starting with a brief bass solo before jumping into a slow and dark riff from the guitars. This is also the only song in German on the album. An almost silent piano comes in around 1:25 rounding off the song.

A sudden change into “One Death” is experienced before the singer, referred to as -k-, bellows out “Lucifer!”. This sets the tone for the rest of the album. A hellish and morbid sounding, black metal influenced, riff phenomenon.

In stark contrast to the rest of the album, the third and fourth tracks are more straight death metal. Break-neck speed with blast beats from -t- and tremolo picking from -p-. That is not to say they loose any of the hellishness of the other tracks.

In total, this album is one the more surprising ones I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this year. The black metal sound of the slower tracks and the straight forward Death metal sound of the 2 faster tracks set this apart from any other. A final comment is that it is quite long. At just under 50 minutes, it’s no Opeth album, but comparatively longer than A Skeletal Domain (Cannibal Corpse) and The Killing Gods (Misery Index).

I’d recommend this album for fans of Blackened death Metal and Black metal in general. Behemoth fans would probably like this as well. It’s suitably hellish and a good listen.

Track list: