Disiplin

Going solely by the cover of Disiplin's eponymous debut album -- a grim portrait of a flag-wielding Hitler Youth-type -- one would expect them to sound like German industrialists KMFDM or something. But instead, they are your standard Norwegian black metal band, albeit of the retro, primal, and thrash-based variety. Recalling the likes of Darkthrone, Mayhem, and even the positively primordial Celtic Frost, rough-hewn gems like "Strategy Formulation," "The One Who Makes You Crawl," and "Hate Engine" are masterly oppressive harbingers of the apocalypse. Alongside the utterly furious, self-explanatory (and nearly self-fulfilling) "The Death Song," or even the more measured, but no less inexorable advance of satanic ditties "The Lucifer Principle" and "Under His Horns," they're as good as pure black metal gets. Meanwhile, blackened war anthems such as "Kniferegime" and "Ultimatum" (complete with terrifying, Nuremberg rally noises) evince a martial, militaristic demeanor that is unsettling to say the least. One thing Disiplin is not doing, however, is breaking new ground in this already crowded genre; a small gripe, which (along with unwelcome concerns over possibly white-power-related lyrics) does take a few points off this otherwise fine debut -- but not enough to concern fans looking for a good, solid, old-school black metal release. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia