Fear Dark is a fairly small, new label which has already released a couple of albums. This split serves as a warmup for Slechtvalk’s full length which is to be expected in late October.

KEKAL: Kekal from Indonesia was formed in 1995 and instantly became, according to their bio, one of the most important extreme metal bands in south-east Asia. I have to take their word for it. The first seconds of Kekal’s part of this split come as quite a shock to me. A clean voice starts singing a-capella. I`m thinking: "is this really a metal release?" but then the music kicks in and we’re on our way.

I don’t know why Kekal decided to use a clean voice this irritating, maybe they thought it’s cool. Believe me, it isn’t. As long as they play their heavy metal influenced blackish metal there’s nothing wrong, the music is well performed and produced and the screaming of singer Jeff is good, but when he uses his clean voice I get the itchy feeling in my spine people get when they hear screeching nails on a blackboard. Maybe it’s just me but this voice is utterly horrible.

Also on this split is a cover of Trouble`s “The Skull” which is destined for a tribute to Trouble compilation


SLECHTVALK: Slechtvalk bursts into their part of the split as if they are on their way to hell already.

When you read the lyrics you’ll find out it’s us, sinners who are going to burn, if we don’t repent and cleanse our soul before God.

The music is of the melodic black metal type. Think in the direction of for example Sear Bliss (especially the second track), so no overproduced Dimmu Borgir tunes but raw decent produced black metal with a rasping scream sometimes accompied by a death grunt.

Based solely on their musical merits Slechtvalk’s really a gain for the Dutch black metal underground if it were not for the fact that they include their Christian beliefs and ideologies in the lyrics. I must admit it’s in an implicit way, but I fear this is a reason for many people not to support them. On the other hand, as long as the music is good why whine about the lyrics? I don’t agree with Satanists either.

Just one question: what happened to their soprano? She’s listed in the lineup but I didn’t hear her sing a single note!