Spectres from the Old World

Being a metal head is hard work sometimes. Just keeping up with all the metal bands whose names start with the word “Dark” is a full time job. Apparently, Dark Fortress have been a successful progressive black metal band for around 20 years now, and I’m pretty sure I’ve been avoiding them because I had them mixed up with some other “Dark” band I don’t like. Dark Forest...or Dark Funeral? Dark Tranquility? I can’t remember. Maybe they’re all amazing.

In any event, I only listened to Spectres from the Old World because Spotify’s increasingly helpful auto-play feature played the track ‘Coalescence’ one day after I finished listening to Craft’s White Noise and Black Metal. This seemed like a pretty natural transition, as Dark Fortress do blistering, yet atmospheric, black metal in a manner similar to Craft. I was immediately intrigued, as it’s rare for a black metal band to hook me with a single song. It turns out Dark Fortress were just getting started.

Follow-up track, ‘The Spider in the Web’ kicks off with a mid-tempo black 'n roll riff that would fit in just fine on a Darkthrone (another “Dark” band!) or Goatwhore album. But then there’s this beautiful, melodic interlude with whispered vocals in the middle that segues into an impressive guitar solo before bridging back to the main riff and a creepy Triptykon-esque dirge at the end. It’s a great composition.

By the time ‘Pali Aike’ came on, I realized Dark Fortress are not a straight-up black metal band, and certainly not content to keep to the restraints of any one genre. It’s also around this time that I noticed that the guy from Alkaloid was doing guest vocals on a few songs. Which was great, because I loved Alkaloid’s Liquid Anatomy. The contrast between that band's Geddy Lee-esque clean vocals and guttural growls were one of my favorite things about them.

It wasn’t until ‘In Deepest Time’ came on, and the dude from Alkaloid was still singing that it occurred to me that perhaps he had been singing the entire time. Was he like… a full time member of this band? And why was so much of the guitar work reminding me of Triptykon? Could it be because V. Santura was also like...a permanent member of this band? And did he like...record, mix, and master the album?

Yes, to all of the above. Dark Fortress are an awesome progressive, blackened death metal band who’ve been around forever and feature V. Santura from Triptykon on guitar and Florian Magnus Maier from Alkaloid on vocals. I’m an idiot, and it’s no wonder I love everything about this album.