Andracca are pretty standard black metal. When they play fast it sounds rather thin, with paper thick guitars and biscuit tin drums. However, when they slow it down to more of a mid pace it becomes a bit more substantial, with chunky riffs you can get your teeth into. I do find myself closing my eyes and being somewhat carried away by their frostbitten groove. Criticisms aside, this is a better showing than the last time I saw them.
Ante-Inferno are a much noisier proposition, as they are louder and more discordant than Andracca. Initially, it seems hard to distinguish the individual elements of their sound but once my ears become accustomed to it, it is really powerful. At times they have a Rotting Christ style spirituality, at others they blast like Emperor. The sound is muddy and really loud. It's at the very limit of what I can endure, as it's almost Motörhead-like in volume. It's pretty relentless and it gets a bit exhausting to be honest although I can't deny the quality and it doesn't really diminish their unholy power. The thrashy opening to the closing track evokes memories of Megadeth's 'Holy Wars'. Punishing.
There are a couple of minutes of feedback before Ultha launch into 'Dispel's epic and layered black metal. The drumming is superb, particularly when the instruments are scaled back with the martial drumbeat keeping everything together. Musically, this is in that leftfield area of black metal populated by the likes of Gaerea and Downfall Of Gaia. The vocals are distant screams which sound like they have echoed down the ages through various eras and epochs. All the songs are lengthy and epic, cramming in many riffs and comprising multiple sections. It's dizzying, it's dazzling and it feels like the black metal equivalent of Dark Angel. The final track starts off as horrifying, blackened doom before blasting into superfast black metal and the transition from slow to fast is reminiscent of Converge's 'The Saddest Day' (my favourite metal track of all time) whilst the track builds to a crushing post-metal climax reminiscent of Amenra.
Ultha ****
Ante-Inferno ****
Andracca ***
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