Armagedda

Ond Spiritism

Agonia Records 2004

Armagedda has always been one of my favorites in the underground scene since they unleashed the Under A Funeral Moon worshipping Final War Approaching.  Here we have their latest and rumored last album since they have supposedly since turned their back on black metal.  Being a big fan of the first two albums I thought I knew what to expect from Ond Spiritism.  I was wrong.  For the most part Armagedda has went a more atmospheric route.  The have slowed down the overall tempo and included some riffs with a mournful quality best exemplified by the opening cut Helvetestoner.  This is also a more varied album music wise with a bunch of clean bass lines standing starkly on their own. There are several of these clean bass breaks sprinkled throughout the album like the ones in Doden Styr Livet.  My favorite song has to be the driving yet subtle Afsted.  As Armagedda has went along they have developed their own personality.  Which is cool since most bands that they are associated with are either Darkthrone or Burzum clones.  Don't get me wrong there is still the typical Tr00 songs on here like AEndalykt and Afgrundsvisioner.  The album closes out with two somber instrumentals within the last 3 songs.  This makes for a melancholic escape form the heaviness that ensued for the first two thirds of the album.  The vocals are still the atypical black metal rasps.  No frills on the drumming either.  But the bass has been made to stand waaaay out like on the first Khold album.  This makes for a Unique sound.  The whole production allows each aspect to breathe and infect the overall sound with a sense of darkness and obscurity while at the same time having a quality of thickness.  The packaging here is outstanding.  They went all out for this one with a parchment style paper and the tasteful use of traditional Xtian woodcuts as the artwork.  All in all, this is my favorite Armagedda album.  They just kept getting better and better and it is sad that they broke up.