Vassafor - To the Death

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The past has some charming moments that the younger fans earn to live, to see and to understand the feeling that many Metalheads bear still today. But honestly: this feeling does not lives in the sound qualities used back in the past, because the crude and nasty approach used on some albums is just a consequence of the lack of resources that many had. And the Australian duet VASSAFOR, even being a veteran, seems to not understand such lesson on “To the Death”. It’s a massive and nasty form of Black Death Metal that reminds the early works from Finnish BEHERIT and even something that DARKTHRONE did on their early works, when the features of those days (translating: the lack of money) influenced a lot the recordings qualities. It’s good, indeed (even not being something different from what everyone heard many times before), but everything was laid to waste.

The main reason for that: the sound quality used on the recordings of “To the Death”. Nasty, crude and sometimes nothing can be understood in the middle of this sound mass. It’s obvious that albums as “Transilvanian Hunger” and “Drawing Down the Moon” influenced many bands, but it was back then, not now. It’s not a way to say ‘fuck off to the world’, but to destroy the band’s possibilities. On the songs, many food points can be heard on “To the Death”, “Egregore Rising”, “The Burning íthyr”, and “Singularity”, but the stench of the past will torment the listeners. It’s because the band seems to be saying ‘we-want-to-be-a-new-BEHERIT’ sometimes, and although no one is telling them to not do that, it’s a dangerous path to try to do again what was done. And maybe a set of songs with not so long timespans would help a lot as well.

Their potential can improve a lot if a better sonority can be used on their next release (just a bit, like DARKTHRONE used on “Under a Funeral Moon” or SATYRICON on “The Shadowthrone” age). VASSAFOR has potential to be great, but if the things go in the same way of “To the Death” on their next release, it’ll be a pity.

Songwriting: 6
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 6
Production: 4