Aratron – Darkness Is Coming
Hailing from Dordrecht, the Netherlands, and featuring (ex-) members of Sepiroth, Damnable, X-tinction and Obtruncation, Aratron have released their debut album with “Darkness Is Coming”.
Aratron describes their music as “traumatizing thrash/death metal” with this I disagree, I would describe their music as deathened black metal with a strong latter part of the 90’s feel.
This is reflected in the band name: “Aratron is the spirit of Saturn. He can apparently turn anything into stone, turn treasure into coal and coal into treasure, give powerful familiars, teach alchemy and magic, reconciles the spirits of the earth, make one invisible, make the barren fruitful and prolong life”.
It is also reflected in their song titles: 'Darkness Is Coming' (Dorkness is cumming, hehehe), 'Driven By Evil' and 'The Dark Curse' to name a few. But foremost it is apparent in their music, the gritty, gnarly and fizzy guitar and bass sound, the riffs are very often reminiscent of Marduk, as well are the hectic drums and straightforward song structures.
Sure there is also a strong death metal influence with the frequent use of hammer blasts and some of the more groovier riffs are reminiscent of Incantation, Asphyx and Obituary. But hey, the music is straightforward, catchy aggressive with a nice and dirty sound.
Only slight point of criticism is the drum sound, it is a bit thin sounding and lacks warmth and fatness. There are also some sloppy timings in some grooves where the ride cymbal is not always 100% tightly played, but sometimes this also contributes a bit to the old school chaotic black metal feel.
Overall I like this record very much, it grows on me every time I listen to it.
Aratron describes their music as “traumatizing thrash/death metal” with this I disagree, I would describe their music as deathened black metal with a strong latter part of the 90’s feel.
This is reflected in the band name: “Aratron is the spirit of Saturn. He can apparently turn anything into stone, turn treasure into coal and coal into treasure, give powerful familiars, teach alchemy and magic, reconciles the spirits of the earth, make one invisible, make the barren fruitful and prolong life”.
It is also reflected in their song titles: 'Darkness Is Coming' (Dorkness is cumming, hehehe), 'Driven By Evil' and 'The Dark Curse' to name a few. But foremost it is apparent in their music, the gritty, gnarly and fizzy guitar and bass sound, the riffs are very often reminiscent of Marduk, as well are the hectic drums and straightforward song structures.
Sure there is also a strong death metal influence with the frequent use of hammer blasts and some of the more groovier riffs are reminiscent of Incantation, Asphyx and Obituary. But hey, the music is straightforward, catchy aggressive with a nice and dirty sound.
Only slight point of criticism is the drum sound, it is a bit thin sounding and lacks warmth and fatness. There are also some sloppy timings in some grooves where the ride cymbal is not always 100% tightly played, but sometimes this also contributes a bit to the old school chaotic black metal feel.
Overall I like this record very much, it grows on me every time I listen to it.
- The Dark Curse
- Primal Shrine
- Slow Decay
- Raise The Black
- The Outsider
- Driven By Evil
- Poisoned Soil
- The Glory Of Chaos
Self released
Reviewer: N.Ottink
Dec 26, 2016
Dec 26, 2016
Next review:
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