Rage Nucléaire — Black Storm of Violence
Like I said, I really admire Lord Worm’s vocals. Like an utter madman, he barks, grunts, and spews sheer, unadulterated hatred. So it’s a huge shame that he opts for extremely generic, hilariously distorted howls in the style of Anaal Nathrakh’s V.I.T.R.I.O.L. here. Not to disparage V.I.T.R.I.O.L. at all, but that style can be pulled off by just about anyone with audio editing software by chucking a metric fuckton of reverb at the vocals. The style does work since on the whole Black Storm of Violence comes off a bit like a mini Anaal Nathrakh despite being noticeably less intense due to the melodious riffing, but it’s still a huge letdown. I mean, compare the vocals of None So Vile to those on display here. Which one wins? It’s not even a contest. It might be due to age (Lord Worm’s pushing fifty now), but I find little to write home about in the vocal department.
The instrumental work fares significantly better than the vocals on Black Storm of Violence. Ranging from black metal tremolos to blackened thrashing sections, the music is a no holds barred, out and out nuclear assault on the living. Guitarist Dark Rage is a beast, showing off his musical chops and wicked riffs on tracks like “The Deadfall Triptych” and “Goddess of Filth.” The guitars are unusually clean and melodic, which rounds out the aggressive sound quite nicely. One would think that this sounds out of place but it adds some dimension to the fury that could easily have come across as one sided. But there’s one minor problem. As killer as his performance is, it’s just a bit too low in the mix. There are a handful of sections where it’s almost impossible to tell what the guitars are doing when Lord Worm is howling and Widigs is hammering away. It would have been such an easy fix so it’s irritating to see this happen and obscure an otherwise awesome performance. If Dark Rage is a beast, Widigs is an absolute monster. Just take a look at album opener “Annihilation Frenzy” to see what I mean. Tons of variation, nimble footwork, crazy fills, and ripping blast beats are the name of the game here. It may well be the most impressive performance I’ve heard since Inquisition’s Obscure Verses for the Multiverse.
The track are pretty straight forward but there’s some good songwriting on display here. The songs are based around just a couple riffs each, but Rage Nucléaire makes it work. The atypically melodic guitars set the band apart from the rest of the bands playing a similar style black metal and make for a fairly unique sound. The production on Black Storm of Violence is pretty clean which is fine, though I would have liked to see something a little dirtier from this camp given their breed of black metal holocaust. Eight tracks make up the album’s 46 minute runtime, which passes quickly enough without dragging its feet or feeling too fleeting. Samples herald the arrival of each new track, and although I’ve always considered samples to be juvenile, they’re all pretty short and don’t detract from the album in any significant way.
Black Storm of Violence is a pretty cool release. Not without its flaws, the album kicks some serious ass. It is a shame that Lord Worm’s vocal performance is fairly average, but the rest of the band has their shit together and more than make up for it. Not necessarily a must-buy, the album is still an enjoyable one, and one that fans of furious black metal are sure to dig. If you’re anxiously awaiting the next Anaal Nathrakh, Marduk, or 1349 album, Black Storm of Violence might just hit your sweet spot.