Extinction - Down Below the Fog CD

Rauer Black Metal aus UK

Review :
I am sort of at a clean slate with Extinction being as I have never heard the original unremastered version of this 2001 demo release nor have I heard Extinction's more recent releases that are more akin to Abruptum's audio insanity. So my mind is not clouded with preconceptions. Down Below the Fog starts off with an intro (Prologue) that is very reminiscent of the satanic ritual torture music of Abruptum so I guess that is a prelude of Extinction's current incarnation. However this is just a prelude to a merciless underground black metal (UGBM) onslaught to get you in the right frame of mind. Incomprehensible is probably my favorite track though it really doesn't vary from anything else that Extinction does on the rest of the BM tracks. I just like some of the vocal lines more and the riffs are maybe a little colder than the frigid depths of the rest of the material. Extinction rips through some seriously trance inducing hymns that strand you in a cold and desolate northern landscape. I love the way the flow of hate is subtle crafted such as on In the Eye of the Great Beast where the riffs change ever so slightly giving the song a feel of a sea of blackness ebbing and flowing. The vocals echo with a subterranean hate that calls to mind images of a catacomb wandering ghoul. The album closes out with an epilogue of similarly discomforting ritual torture music carried through with a chime that sounds like it was sampled from the one that closes out Darkthrone's classic Under a Funeral Moon. The production is pretty standard for UGBM of this ilk, thin guitars, buried yet hissing drums, and no bass guitar at all. Now that I have experienced the uncaring void that is Extinction, I think I will be searching for more of this lifeless emptiness to paint the blackness in my heart even darker shade of Hate and Despair.

Tracklist :
1. Prologue
2. The Fusion of Blood and Fire
3. Down Below the Fog
4. The Fall of the Blazing Red Sun
5. In the Shadow of the Moon
6. Incomprehensible Darkness
7. In the Eye of the Great Beast
8. Epilogue