Fester – Silence
Saturday, May 21st, 2011
Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Label: Abyss Records
Abyss Records is one lucky label. They’ve picked up Fester, one of the truly original black/death bands from Norway, and are in the process of re-releasing some of stuff, including the classic Silence from 1994.
Reminding me a lot of Cynic’s work, with more blackened elements, there is a reason this album is an underground classic. It kicks ass!
The technicality of the instruments is a lot higher than most black metal, with some gorgeous sounding clean parts and evil distortion.
Vocally, Bjørn “Tiger” Mathisen is one of the most understandable blackened vocalists ever. You can actually hear what he’s saying, he is enunciating, and the style is not shrieked but rather a rough smoker’s voice; a cross between death growls and black shrieks. This has brought him close to the front of my favorite vocalists.
I definitely recommend this for fans of melodic black or death metal, especially fans of Cynic and Dissection.
8 out of 10.
Fester on MySpace.