Review: Panzerfaust - The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion | |||||||
|
|||||||
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion | |||||||
![]() |
Label: Eisenwald Year released: 2024 Duration: 45:52 Tracks: 5 Genre: Black Metal Rating: Review online: January 19, 2025 Reviewed by: Thomas |
Readers' Rating How do you rate this release? Rated 3.83/5 (76.67%) (6 Votes)
|
|||||
Review | |||||||
The fourth and last installment in the "The Suns of Perdition" series by Panzerfaust is upon us, and after the excellent Render Unto Eden and The Astral Drain, I was very excited to hear what horrors they've dredged up from the trenches this time around. Panzerfaust play intensely misanthropic and aggressive black metal, with crushing, booming riffs, a thundering rhythm section, and furiously roaring vocals, that is otherwise coated in a thick, suffocating atmosphere that makes you feel like you're trying to breathe while drowning in mud. The songs on To Shadow Zion are masterfully crafted. Whether they unleash full-fledged fury as heard on "When Even the Ground is Hostile" or slowly build into explosive crescendos as on "The Damascene Conversions," there is always something to claw at your attention here. This is no mean feat, considering that this type of music can become very tedious very fast, with drawn-out songs and melodic passages repeated without end. However, what Panzerfaust do extremely well is introducing tempo shifts, new riffs and hooks at crucial moments, alternating vocals between the haunting growls of Brock van Dijk and the terrifying roars of Goliath, and using the rhythm section actively to elevate each song. Speaking of the rhythm section, a vital contributor to the overall atmosphere and high quality of this record is drummer Alexander Kartashov, who delivers some really fantastic yet non-flashy fills, and sometimes strongly melodic drumming, using his cymbals in a way that resembles Darkside of Mgla and Kriegsmachine. His skills are perhaps best appreciated on "When Even the Ground is Hostile," where parts with more simplistic riffing and dissonant picking are elevated enormously by Kartashov's punishing but deeply enchanting work behind the kit. Too few bands let their drummer shine, and it's a damn shame. I don't really have much to pick on here. Every song on the album is killer, and the album flows perfectly from beginning to end now that the annoying interludes are gone. If I had to pick, "When Even the Ground is Hostile" and "To Shadow Zion (No Sanctuary)" are perhaps the definitive highlights. If you are a fan of atmospheric black metal, and maybe in particular bands like Mg?a and Kriegsmachine, this album is unmissable and one of the best albums of 2024. See below for more reviews... ↓ |
|||||||
More about Panzerfaust... | |||||||
Review: The Suns of Perdition - Chapter II: Render unto Eden (reviewed by Michel Renaud) | |||||||
Click below for more reviews | |||||||
Latest 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Various Books/Zines
|
The Metal Crypt - Crushing Posers Since 1999
Copyright © 1999-2025,
Michel Renaud / The Metal Crypt. All Rights Reserved.