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HXNRCH002
Bestia - Hallutsinatsioon
Format: black cd-r with sticker
Running time: 36 minutes
Price: N/A
Date of release: 23. july 2004
Description: pagan black/death metal from Estonia, debut album of Bestia
Tracklist:
1. Hallutsinatsioon - (mp3)
2. Viirastus tõusvas tules - (mp3)
3. Libahunt - (mp3)
4. Sosin
5. Kord vabana tuleme tagasi
6. Toonela varjud
7. Kolmas haud vasakult
8. Päev et mõista
9. Ruunide leidmine
10. Suremise teine tee
11. Asynchronous Laughter
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REVIEWS:
Right now i'm holding in my hands the brand new soon-to-be-released album of the estonian
black/death metal band Bestia. Its name "Hallutsinatsioon" (Hallucination) is written on the
cover using an unusually calm font for a black metal release. But don't be fooled by it's
appearance. Inside you will find the fruits of work by skilled musicians. Eleven songs sum
up to a total of 36 minutes of varying and quality extreme metal.
The album as a whole, is perhaps a bit uneven in the respect that not all the songs follow
the same plot. The declination isn't too big, but it's there. However it poses no threat to
the albums quality. In fact, i was rather intrigued by the small sidejumps in the style.
Now coming to the technical side, i must say the album managed to deliver me great joy. It
offers me the black metal i like. It has the cold nordic breeze, speed, enough melodies and
anger. The opening riffs in the first song at first appeared a bit soft and i feared that the
rest of the album will be mid-tempo variation poor black metal as well. I had recently
experienced such a letdown and i didn't want to be disappointed again. Fortunately, some
seconds after the beginning the doors to the true essence of the album opened. Who can derive
pleasure from arctic ancient nature understands the elevated state of mind and the ravishment
i was in. The second song somehow appeared to contain elements of Nightwish. That does not mean
that it was soft, it still followed the style of the opening track, only adding a bit more
sentimentality.
When vocals can sometimes be a big flop, then in Bestia's case i must give credit to the singer
who handles the black metal vocals extremely well and also has an interesting death metal growl.
And that's just what you'll get in the third track "Libahunt" (Werewolf). Abandoning the
romantic/longing yet crispy path, the album suddenly turns evil for two and a half minutes.
That's an example of the unevenness of "Hallutsinatsioon". But fits in just nicely. Weird whisper
like growling, blasting percussions and rough riffs definately got me up and moshing as the
spell-like story of the werewolf unfolded in all it's unholiness and fury. The next three tracks
all have fast, melodic and melancholic tunes. The sad moods make their presence felt. And to the
brutal side again, "Kolmas haud vasakult" (The third grave from the left) catches a few thrash
metal elements and speeds on wrecklessly. I really enjoyed the machine like crushing guitars on
this one.
Two instrumental tracks can also be found on "Hallutsinatsioon". I always like a good keyboard
instrumental and when it turns out well it becomes an important part of the album. One of them,
the "Asynchronous laughter" is a short drum'n'bass kind of ending for the last song, the other
one is "Ruunide Leidmine" (Finding of the runes). The latter, taking under consideration the
folk elements of the album, has a more significant role to play. The dark feeling it creates
with it's calm but somewhat disturbing sounds is frightening. The short drum parts however
could have been either left out or extended as they might interfere with the athmospheric
aspirations of the track. On the other hand they add to the shaman feeling of the song,
strengthening it's folk appearance.
I like to think of "Ruunide Leidmine" as the conclusive track of the main course of the
album because the last song differs from the rest of the album a lot. I was pleasantly
surprised when i noticed that the song "Suremise teine tee" (Alternate way of dying) had
been included on "Hallutsinatsioon". It has been previously released on the 2003 promo CD,
and i was quite attached to it. The song is pure death metal, with a single goal: to destroy
the neck muscles for good. It's the kind of song that gets the crowd going at concerts.
Looking back towards the beginning of "Hallutsinatsioon" you can see the contrast, but as
said above, it really doesn't matter.
Zoom out into the big picture again. "Hallutsinatsioon" is a strange, yet fascinating mixture
of raw and cold nordic black metal and some good death metal. The whole album has to some extent
folk influences. The songs aiming to awaken feelings in the listener fulfill their objective and
the ones meant to crush - well they do just that, and with great success. Got to give credit for
the great composition and creativity as well. I could probably go on and on but i guess i'll just
leave the seed of curiosity in the reader and strongly recommend to get this album as soon as
possible. (www.metalstorm.ee)
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