SAMMATH (Nl) – ‘Triumph in Hatred’ CD

What we have here is a hearty stew of raw, cold, melodic and thrashy BM (and some DM influences too – Damnation is as much about Morbid Angel as it is Darkthrone). There are lots of melodies at play, threatening to break out of the blackness but remaining tantalisingly lost in an overbearing claustrophobic bank of dense darkness. Somehow, Sammath manages to remain raw and grim – as all Black Metal should be – and this is their single-most finest accomplishment. To marry the menacing with the melodic without sounding twee is no mean feat, yet Sammath pulls it off majestically.