Old Black

Whenever a style of music changes and evolves, there will likely be some retro artists who long for an earlier era -- and in black metal, such a band is Negator. It isn't hard to understand why the German outfit named this CD Old Black; although recorded in 2003, the material is an unapologetic throwback to the black metal of the late '80s and early '90s -- a time when thrash metal was giving way to the more extreme, more underground death metal/black metal field. Clearly, Negator identifies with the rawness that characterized early black metal -- and while Old Black is well produced, it still captures the sort of primal, punk-loving spirit that black metal had back then. Old Black isn't the least bit groundbreaking, but then, it isn't supposed to be. The question shouldn't be whether or not Old Black is derivative -- of course it's derivative -- the question should be whether or not Old Black accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish. And the answer is yes; these German headbangers are good at what they do. That includes lead singer Nachtgarm, who has clearly mastered black metal's trademark rasp -- and because of the strong '80s influence, one can see the parallels between black metal's rasp and the rasp that Brian Johnson brought to AC/DC. Not too many metal historians think of AC/DC as a band that had a vocal influence on black metal, but try listening to Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth after playing AC/DC's Back in Black album -- it isn't hard to make a case that the black metal rasp is Johnson's rasp taken to an evil, demonic extreme. And the words evil and demonic easily describe Nachtgarm's performances on Old Black, which won't win any awards for originality but is a decent re-creation of black metal's beginnings. ~ Alex Henderson