Watain
Lawless Darkness

July 2011
Released: 2011, Seasons of Mist
Rating: 5.0/5
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team

At first glance Lawless Darkness might give you the impression that Watain are getting a bit commercial with their latest offspring, indeed they have crossed the boundaries of black metal this time around by choosing a more chromatic sound approach, but after being Sworn to the Dark, which I consider was the probe for what was yet to come, the Swedish trio proves what they are actually made of (probably darkness).



Death’s cold dark is the first track in a sequence of ten, and it introduces us to their mischievous gloom with some energetic thrash blast beats, the album then develops through a melancholic atmosphere as in the kiss of death or the title track lawless darkness (an instrumental ode to the dark) all without missing out on either the Bathoresque, primitive, rough black metal modulations or the fast, insane outbursts you can find in Reaping death.



With black metal sounds of the Swedish lands, Watain revive the 90’s sounds of the genre with a modern approach and combine old and new, to take us on a journey back to the primordial source, described in their master piece Waters of ain in which the ripping riffs carry you along with the melodic soli, on the voyage without end of spiritual self knowledge.



More melodic than their previous albums Sworn to the Dark and Casus Luciferi but still firmly connected to the Swedish black metal roots, with an old school thrash feeling and imposing riffs, Watain don’t waste time to prove that their opus is definitely commercial but in the sense that it’s a definite must buy and the dark spark we’ve all been waiting for!



Review by Adelina Dragoi