Clandestine Blaze - Harmony of Struggle
I haven’t listened to Clandestine Blaze in years. I got hold of their 1999 debut LP (Fire Burns in Our Hearts) when it first came out and I found it to be disappointingly predictable. Face it, if I can pinpoint exactly when the generic keyboard intro will end and the Lo-Fi generic Necro Black Metal begins without ever hearing the LP or the band before, that’s just fucking sad. Harmony of Struggle is the latest by Clandestine Blaze and I felt that enough time had passed for the band to have improved, and most importantly of all, to have discovered their own sound. Sadly, it often takes a band several albums before they find their identity and start producing quality music. Harmony of Struggle is far better and more original than their debut, which is always a good thing to notice right off the bat. They’re still a bit on the underproduced side, but the music is definitely worth a listen. Clandestine Blaze has gotten a bit slower and heavier on this release and the net effect is that they sound more like De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas-era Mayhem than Darkthrone. This is particularly evident on “Face of Granite.” Other tracks have a similar vibe, though the influence isn’t quite as noticeable. The use of keyboards and atmosphere add a lot to the music, too. There are moments when things are genuinely dark and brooding, like a creature locked in your attic that’s biding his time until he can catch you unawares. What keeps this LP from absolute awesomeness is the production. Harmony of Struggle has a snare tone that sounds like a metal garbage can lid. Also, the guitars could have been more powerful. They needed to be up in front and in your face, assaulting you like you owed the band money. Instead, they’re kind of in that middle area where they’re louder than the average “we sucked all of the bass out of our guitars” Necro Black Metal band, but they’re not quite loud enough to get out from underneath the garbage can lid snare drum when the speed kicks up. I hope Clandestine Blaze continues to go in this direction because this is some seriously good stuff that only needs a recording/production that will allow the music to kick ass to its fullest potential.
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