Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Graveland - In The Glare of Burning Churches [Forever Plagued Records - 2009]

“In The Glare of Burning Churches”  is another slice of bizarre, grim & often off-kilter atmospheric mix of: raw/low-fi blacked metal, morbid synth work, cluttering & overloaded drum machine work, and genreal creative yet grim blacked metal from this prolific polish one man project

This is another reissue of the projects early work on Forever Plagued Records- the album was orinally released in cassette demo form back in 1993. This reissue from 2009 brings together an alternative rawer more extreme version of the demo, along with a hand-full of bonus tracks from around the same time to make up a great grim full length.

The album starts off in a very odd fashion with the title track's introduction which is a mixture of cod medieval music, the sound of burning buildings, and a women screaming over & over- this goes on for about a minute & a half, then we drop into wonderful spiteful & speedy raw black metal attack that has this almost backwards sounding fairground like organ rising ever so often from the battering lo-fied mix of truly extreme ranted & screamed black metal vocals,  blacked almost hardcore meets black metal guitar raging, and runaway drum machine attack.

The rest of the albums 11 tracks swing from mid-paced  blacked metal ‘n’ majestic yet slightly wavering synth marches, onto grim instrumentals that weave together deeply sombre  late 70’s or early 80’s synth lines or church organ like funeral marches. Or morbid lo-fi chopping electronica & wonky neo classical  mixes, which are lined with horror effects. Through to more spiteful & speedy galloping up paced raw blacked metal attacks, which like the first track have the odd wavering rise of morbid synth banks or sudden drops into just creepy gothic synth or grim church organ drifts. 

The album as a whole offers up a nice mix of track pace, and though it’s not as off-kilter as “Drunemeton”- one of the other Graveland reissues we reviewed recently, theres  enough odd & creative edges here to make it an enjoyable often quirky & rewarding grim ride.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Graveland - In The Glare of Burni...
“In The Glare of Burning Churches”  is another slice of bizarre, grim & often off-kilter atmospheric mix of: raw/low-fi blacked metal, morbid sy...
010725   Atomic Rooster - Atomic Roos...
010725   Con Funk Shun - Organized
010725   Various Artists - Heatwave- T...
010725   The Good, The Bad, The Weird ...
270625   Murder Rock - Murder Rock( Bl...
270625   The Black Torment - The Blac...
250625   Girls Without Shame - Girls W...
250625   Xiphos - The Age Of Alexander
250625   Timothy Fairless - Keep Tal...
240625   CORR//PT│0N_UN1T - S7ATU5_...
Latest Articles

Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sharp t...
It’s fair to say the Sharksploitation genre is often tried, tested, and to be honest, tired. Fear Below is a 2025 Australian film that tries to do some...
180625   Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sha...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
090525   Ennaytch - Of walls, abused ...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
110325   Sebastian Tomb - Walls of unb...
040225   Alien Sex Fiend - Possessed B...
231224   Best Of 2024 - Music, Sound &...
191224   Splintered - Somewhere Betwee...
031224   Shane Ryan-Reid - Coerced and...
221024   Whore’s Breath - life’s h...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom