Fuath – Fuath II
Release Date: 19th February 2021
Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal.
FFO: Emperor, Darkthrone, Mayhem.
Review By: Ken Love
If Saor is Andy Marshall’s love letter to his native Scotland, who’s music is steeped in the heritage and mysticism of the Highlands, an ode to its rolling hills, wonderous landscapes and rich history, then Fuath is its blasphemous sibling striving to burn Scotland’s pious celtic relics to ash.
Fuath was originally conceived as a one-off project, an opportunity for Marshall to pay homage to the early Norwegian Black Metal innovators who so savagely carved their controversial path in the early 90s. Fuath II is verymuch an evolution and expansion on Fuath I, the most obvious development being in its production. There is a clarity here that didn’t exist on its predecessor. ‘I’ was very much of the muddy, lo-fi, ‘we’ve recorded this at the bottom of a well’ approach which was so common of those early Black Metal classics however II brings far more definition & clarity to the guitars while incorporating more dynamic soundscapes, synth lines and melodies, in much the way Emperor progressed on the seminal ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’. Frankly, ‘II’ is like the Black album in comparison to ‘I’. It feels like this was a conscious effort in bothcases, eachpaying homage to a different stylistic approach within early Black Metal. Fans of Saor will find Marshall unrecognisable here, his deep, bear-like bellow is replaced by a shrill snarl that could be mistaken for Transylvanian Hunger-era Nocturnu Culto of Darkthrone, and he delivers it with aplomb.
When opener Prophecies smashes you in the face with all the subtlety of a spiked bat, the evolution is apparent from the off; blistering blast beats & frenzied chords are augmented by glacial keys and discordant arpeggios before coalescing into classic black metal tremolo riffs. Marshall even introduces a melodic Ihsahn-esque delivery “Prophecies” on the chorus, which, while used sparingly throughout the album, hints as to further steps the project could explore next. The Pyre, Essence and Into The Forest of Shadows all have an unnerving and icy form that is both exciting and unsettling in equal measure. As the best black metal should be. The album highlight, to these ears, is closer, Endless Winter which has a fury and drama that exceeds all that came before it. In honesty, these songs are all cut from the same cloth, with similar structural compositions and all built on a pure and unflinching love of black metal. If that floats your boat, then you can’t go wrong.
II is an excellent evolution of the Fuath project which, while unlikely to appeal to metal fans without an ear for Black Metal, for those that do, it is a great and trve kvlt ode to that most nihilistic of styles.
Recommended.
(3.5 / 5)
