Pitchblack
Death & Disbelief

It is about Death and Disbelief when Danish quartet Pitchblack releases the first thing since 2012, an album with a pretty dismal artwork – some kind of reversed centaur. It is the third album of this band that was founded back in 2002, in 2007 their debut album was being considered “debut album of the year 2007” at MTV’s Danish Metal Awards. So, they have some commercial potential perhaps, or maybe they just go well in the mainstream medias. But what about this new album, is it good enough to be considered anything of 2020?

It is really brutal, that’s for sure. The vocals are grunty and growly in a brutal way and it is that brutality that spices up this album. It would seem that they take inspiration from the neighbouring Sweden and their many excellent death metal heroes, I think The Haunted or At the Gates and some more can be mentioned as similar. They have some groove and hooks, as well as brutality, but not much variation or depth and the album comes through as pretty simple and what you hear the first time is what you get. It will not be a journey of discovery into the depths of music, it is simple death metal of the brutal kind – something that has been done really well by other Danish band, so what about these guys?

Well, I would consider that I find them as memorable as I want the whole Covid-thing to be, kind of pointless and dull in many regards. With some upsides. There are better brutal death metallers from Denmark as well, I don’t really think that these guys do anything really worth biting the teeth into, they don’t come up with great enough songs and while the brutality and aggression is great, it also becomes boring quickly.

If you prefer the genre, if you like brutal stuff and the similar stuff, then perhaps you should give this one a go as you are probably of the target audience. But I find it pretty difficult to muster any considerable amount of energy towards this album as it doesn’t really stand out or shine. It is a pretty dreary album that never takes off and I doubt that it will make much of a mark or earn much of an audience, kind of like they were going for average. Perhaps they should have remained in hiding, or at least try to make something more exciting.

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