Atra Mors/Torver/Beyond The Shadows/Death Prayer Records/2013 Split Album Review

 

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  United Kingdom's  Atra  mors  and  Torver  called  "Beyond  The  Shadows"  which  was  released  in  2018  by  Death  Prayer  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Atra  Maors  who  return  with  their  negative  and  misanthropic  form  of  black  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  A  very  distorted  sound  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical  direction. All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  their  side  of  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  while  the  vocals  are  mostyl  high  pitched  black  metal  screams.

  A  lot  of  their  music  is  also  very  heavily  influenced  by  the  90's  second  wave  era  along  with  the  vocals  also  adding  in  some  grim  touches  at  times.  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast b eats  can b e  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling  as  well  as  the  solos  and  leads  also  being  done  in  a  very  dark  yet  melodic  style  and  they  also  bring  in  a  couple  of  synth  orientated  instrumentals.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  death  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Atra  Mors  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  negative  and  misanthropic  black  m3etal,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Genocide  Plague"  and  "Tyrant  Of  The  Winds".

  Next  up  is  Torver  a  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  on  this  recording  plays  an  old  school  form of  black  metal  with  elements  of  crust  punk..

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  fast  and r aw  sound  that  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast b eats.  Vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  while  the  music  is  also  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  era  and  the  mid  tempo  sections  also  bring  in  elements  of  crust  punk  as  well  as  all  of  the  riffing  being  done  on  power  chords.  The  production  sounds  very  dark  and  raw  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  plague  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Torver  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  black  metal  with  elements  of  crust  punk,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Manifestation  Of  The  Perverse"  and  "The  Masters  Of  Old".

  In  concession  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  i  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  British  black  metal.   8  out  of  10.

  https://deathprayerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-shadows

    

            

Torver Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a three-piece Pagan Black Metal band from the United Kingdom. If you are a fan of early Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon, Ulver and Emperor this band might be to your liking as we have a good mix of 90's style guitars and vocals, synths, violin and even spoken words and clear vocals in parts.


2. So far you have released a demo and have also been a part of a split, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on both of the recordings and also how do they differ from each other?
That's right. We released a demo titled “From Beyond the Abyss” which was punked up, aggressive Black Metal in the vein of Darkthrone and Blodulv. We've also had the same four tracks put on a split cassette with Funeral Path which was released on Mordgrimm Records. But on the latest split release we've done with Arcane North, our material is very different as we've dropped the punked up Black Metal sound and gone in a new direction, creating more atmospheric sounding Black Metal which to me is sounding a lot more mature, fresh and unique compared to our early material.


3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
At first we wrote about anti-religion, occultism and demonology, but with Nicholas taking over lyric duties we've gone over to the more spiritual side of Paganism which is very suiting to this band.


4. Originally the band was called 'Sitri', what was the decision behind the name change?
Sitri didn't feel right as a band, but it also turned out there was also another Black Metal band from the US called Sitri, so I thought I'd re-name the band with something more original sounding and that's when I came across the name Torver.

5. I know that the name 'Torver' means a hamlet in Cumbria, can you tell us a little bit more about why you picked this is a band name?
Well, I was out walking with my friend in the countryside and we were on our way to Coniston, we walked through Torver during our travel and we started to joke about how Torver sounded like a Black Metal name. I decided to look into the name Torver and it turned out Torver was once a resting place where the Norse Vikings would go to settle down after getting tired of pillaging, so this seemed very suiting for the band and that's when I decided on the name change.


6. Has the band done any live shows or has this strictly been a studio project so far?
No, this is strictly a studio project and will most likely stay that way sadly, as myself, Azrael and Nicholas live in very distant parts of the UK, so the chances of us playing live are very slim.

7. Recently you were a part of a split with 'Arcane North', what are your thoughts on the other band that have participated on the split?
I've always been a supporter of Arcane North and I am good friends with William, he's been sending me over rough mixes of the Arcane North material since he spoke to me about putting the project together. I'm a massive fan of his work and it's been a real honour working with him.

8. The split was released on Blackwood Productions, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
Blackwood Productions is a small DIY label started up by myself and Steven, we originally put the label together just to release this split, but since starting the label we have decided to make something of it and release other bands. We both have great ideas so it's going to be interesting to see what we do next.

9. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
So far the feedback has been great and we've had some really positive comments said about our new songs, so I'm pretty pleased with it.

10. What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part off?
I've currently been recording new material with my other projects Helvellyn and Skiddaw and I've also got a few gigs lined up this year with Ulfarr. Azrael is currently working on his band Heathen Deity and I believe Nicholas has been in the studio with Aklash recording material for their next release, which should be fantastic!

11. When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
You can expect a full length album hopefully at some point this year as we're currently working on new material. I haven't really thought that far ahead to be honest, but I'd just be happy if we manage to get all our songs released on vinyl and cassette and keep creating music together for as long as we can. Whatever else comes along will be a bonus I guess.


12. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
My main influences are Darkthrone, Mare, Mayhem and Gorgoroth as I'm a massive fan of 90's sounding Scandinavian Black Metal. I've been listening to a lot of Taake, early Satyricon, Mysticum, Motorhead and Iron Maiden at the moment and right now I'm listening to UK Black Metal band  Wreodan Healh, check them out if you are a fan of really early Dimmu Borgir, For All Tid era.

13. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has supported Torver and picked up a copy of our new release “From Moonrise to Moonset” and I'd like to thank your good self for taking the time to talk about Torver.

Dominus.

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Torver/Arcane North/From Moonrise To Moonset/Blackwood Productions/2015 Split CD Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  the  United  Kingdom's  Torver  and  Arcane  North  called  "From  Moonrise To  Moonset"  which  was  released  by  Blackwood  Productions  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Torver  a  band  that  plays  an  atmospheric  form  of  black  metal.

  A  very  dark  and  atmospheric  sounding  synths  starts  off  their  side  of  the  split  along  with  the  sounds  of  nature  and  after  the  intro  clean  singing  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  which  leads  up  to  more  of  a  black  metal  direction  along  with some  high  pitched  screams and  the  mix  the  clean  vocals  and  atmospheric  elements  in  with  the  heavier  style.

   After  awhile  the  music  starts  to  speed  up  a  bit  and  melodic solos  and  leads are  added  onto  the  recording  while  the  second  song  brings  in  more  of  a  fast  and  raw  black  metal  sound  at  times  along  with  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  and  after  awhile  a  small  amount  of  spoken word  parts  are  added  onto  the  track  which  is  also  very  long  and  epic  in  length,  the  production  sounds very  dark  yet  powerful  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  an  ritualistic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Torver  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  black  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Lunar  Ritual"  8  out  of  10.

  Next  up  is  Arcane  North  a  1  man  band  that  has  been featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  an  atmospheric form  of  black  metal.

  A  very  epic  and  atmospheric  sound  starts  off  his  split  along  with  some  dark  ambient  elements  and  after  a  minute  more  of  a  melodic  style  of  black  metal  is  added  onto  the  recording  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  grim  and  high  pitched  screams  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  clean  singing  being  utilized  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

Most  of  the  atmospheric  parts  get  mixed  in  with  both  the  heavy  and  melodic  parts  quite  a  bit  in  the  songs  and  at  time s the  music  does  speed  up  at  times  and  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  songs  also  mostly  stick  to mostly  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical direction  and  the  last  track  is  an  instrumental  ambient  piece,  the production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  nature  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Arcane  North  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  atmospheric  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  his  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Cold  Lonely  Moors".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  atmospheric black  metal.  8  out  of  10.  

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Torver/3540387077
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Arcane_North/3540382307