Review by Felix on June 27, 2024.

Black metal has many faces and it is beyond doubt that it can be raw and primitive. It is also correct that the genre does not need an objectively good sound. On the other hand it is not true that every raw and primitive album with a non-perfect (read: more or less shitty) production hits the mark per se. All those who say something different are invited to listen to “Darkness Times”, the debut of Portugal’s Armnatt from the year 2014.

The album consists of ten pieces. Two of them are shorter than 12 seconds, but – just to avoid misunderstandings – this is no black metal version of “Speak English or Die”. Okay, this album also showed a very simple form of metal, but it had this funny and cynical component that “Darkness Times” does not have. These guys want to be taken seriously and honestly speaking this is not easy, because their riffs, their song structures and, to cut a long story short, everything else is a triumph of uninspired song-writing. The vocals are stupid and expressionless, the typical one tone nagging and screaming, but they would probably work in a better surrounding. Yet the surrounding is always the same here, from the first real song “Destroying Divinity” to the last number we can call a song (“Forest of Shadows”). The final piece “Dark Cleansing Winds” is only a (surprise, surprise) windy outro. Its sole purpose is obviously not to let the album end before it reaches the 24-minute mark. Yes, it is no typo here, I said 24 minutes. Other bands would call this release an EP, but for our friends from Portugal it seems to be a full-length. So do not expect a lot of substance in the uniform songs. Armnatt are always happy whenever they bring a song over the finishing line. At least the abrupt ending of some songs indicates this.

The rumbling low-fi production is pure nonsense, but exactly because of this, it goes hand in hand with the song material. Of course, the bass guitar does not exist, the guitars sound lumpier than on Bathory’s second work and the drums fail to develop a massive power. Thus, we can only focus on the attitude of these guys who do not know keyboards, acoustic guitars or other useless gimmicks. I am sure they do not lack passion and authenticity, but this alone does not lead to good songs. Okay, they do not deliver total bullshit and they are, a dubious compliment, coherent in their self-limitation. High speed here and high speed there, creaking guitars all the time and constantly rumbling drums – if this is what one expects from a black metal work, “Darkness Times”, a kind of anti-thesis to intelligently performed (Swedish) black metal, is a great album. Especially for those of you who do not have much time, because, as mentioned before, you need only 24 minutes. Everybody else is well advised to put the focus on other works. Perhaps “Darkness Times” can work after five or ten beers, but forgive me, I have not tried this in a self-test.

Rating: 3.7 out of 10