Album review: Blackbraid – Blackbraid II

By DAN SOUTHALL

BLACKBRAID crept out from the rocks last year with their first, self-titled album. A one-man project courtesy of a bloke by the name of Sgah’gahsowáh, there is a lot made of the fact that he is of Native American ancestry, although he doesn’t use that as a focus towards his music in any other manner than to inject native instrumentation in some areas and reflect his believes in nature in his music.

The first album copped some flack for being short, or long, or too well produced or not moody enough depending on which corner of the internet you visited. On this album, the Norwegian black metal worship has continued unabated and apparently unaffected by whatever barbs were thrown at the music the first time around as Sgah’gahsowáh has doubled down on most elements, from the acoustic “Autumnal Hearts Ablaze” and “Spells of Moon and Earth” with crisp clean guitar work and flute wrapped together to the extreme length of tracks “Moss Covered Bones on the Altar of the Moon” and “A Song of Death on Winds of Dawn”.
The length of the tracks is lost in the ebb and flow of the music and the instrumentation used. At times the only unimaginative thing on show is the album title, but then again, a more imaginative title would take away the mystery of what is enclosed.

If you are fan of more traditional black metal, Blackbraid throws in a cover of Bathory’s “A Fine Day To Die” to keep you onside and if you were unaware of the band up until this point, it is a great pointer to where they get some of the fire for their music.

Creating abrasive music such as black metal whilst simultaneously keeping it melodic, tasteful and catchy (!) cannot be an easy task. Here though it just seems to come easily as this album has been released a mere 12 months since its predecessor. Blackbraid are coming for you whether you like it or not.