Hagatiz, a project helmed by Semgoroth of Dauþuz, MK of Häxenzijrkell and Odium Aeterum of Lunar Chalice, continue the Teutonic power that is German Black metal. Their debut album, Cursed To the Night, continues the continual high bar the musicians set for themselves and the music they create.
Cursed To the Night is that gloriously raw first /second generation style of upfront full of aggression Black metal that is utterly encompassing and uncompromising. Once you make it past the intro of “The Gathering” Deminonde’’ mid-paced assault begins with thunderous double kicks and guitar-led chaos. To label their music simplistic is uninformed. The times change add to the dynamics that when it is fast, it is brief and violent. The atmosphere is created through that guitar tone, almost painful at times as it drags across your skin like a blunt knife. “Drown In Darkness “is pure primal darkened energy that escapes the confines of the genre, unpredictable, malevolent, and steeped in nineties tradition, where the cacophony creates its own inescapable void.
Full of shrieking, growling and vitriolic snarls, the guitar work is ominous and forbidding. There is a palpable tension in their work as ‘’Everlast in Darkest Night’’ evokes, ‘’Scourge beneath the Skin’’ and ‘’Echoes from the Afterlife’’ damn with its tremolo-ridden madness and undertones.
Hagatiz’s music is devastating and ‘’Cursed To the Night’’ is an opening statement of damnation and stark desolate aggression. An Incredible, well-executed piece of extremity that belongs in the pantheon of the underground, hidden in the violent shadows, preying on the listener with its raw, incalculable madness……
Hagatiz: N/A
Release Year: 2023
Label: Amor Fati
Category: Album
Country: Germany
Reviewed by Sparky
