Count Raven - Nashira
The doomsday machine has been brought back to life and the Raven sniffs fresh blood and is hungrier than ever...
It's been 13 years since the Count of all Ravens ruled the world, this time he is back with a vengeance determined to re-take the throne and not only rule but to rock the shit out of any living soul! On 'Mammons War', the 5th nugget in order by Count Raven you get 10 tons of grim reality, lots of unholiness and godless beauty but most of all, one hell of a doomsday show! The album shows off a full-fledged lustre and brilliance seldom seen and each song is a study in greatness of first-degree. Everything on this piece of plastic is done by the book and the Swedish hammers of doom certainly deserve to be named on 'Walk of fame' or perhaps it is more appropriate to say 'Walk in pain'.
The opening track 'The Poltergeist' and the following 'Scream' along with the outstanding 'Nashira' certainly bring those old demons in the closet back to life and may even inspire any priest to dial 666 on his divine phone. The music is quite epic, with pompous riffs and nicely arranged guitar solos but most of all there are Black Sabbath! The sabbathic worship literally drool down the church walls, which I adore and the vocals of Dan 'Fodde' Fondelius makes Ozzy feel more paranoid than ever!
The beautiful keyboard-based and slightly different title track 'Mammons War' once again shows that Count Raven belong to the elite, and they have broaden their musical skills quite a lot from time to time which I find very pleasing. The smoking track 'A Lifetime' and the majestic 'To Kill a Child' are one of my absolute favourites, especially the latter who easily rips the clothes of any nun and may cause Jesus to spin an extra round on the cross. This album is crazy and if you're into bands like Saint Vitus (children of doom era), Candlemass, Penance or Grand Magus you will go wild in the streets when you hear this gem.
'Mammon' is a term, derived from the Christian bible, that was used to describe greed, avarice, and unjust wordly gain and the word itself is a transliteration from the Hebrew word 'Mammon', which means money. I assume that the lyrics on the album is very much about these topics and I totally agree that these things are eating us all up, We have become our own enemies!...there is something to think about dear reader.
This is heavy shit folks, by heavy dudes, not for the weak but for the strong and unclean!... buy it and play it damn loud and make Christmas into a living hell for your neighbours!
Reviewed by Tobias Beament
Myspace
I HATE RECORDS
Track List
01 The Poltergeist
02 Scream
03 Nashira
04 The Entity
05 Mammons War
06 A Lifetime
07 To Kill A Child
08 To Love, Wherever You Are
09 Magic Is...
10 Seven Days
11 Increasing Deserts
