Armagedda - The Final War Approaching (2001)^{Release ID: 19098}

The past few months I have been listening to a lot of modern day Darkthrone and have reviewed a couple of recent records from the Norwegian legends of black metal, commenting how they sound very little like their bm heyday.  This has been something to celebrate in my opinion as they truly have reinvented themselves in comparison to the band that dropped A Blaze... and Transilvanian Hunger some thirty years ago.   If ever proof was needed that the influence of black metal era Fenriz and NC is always destined to be alive and kicking then Armagedda are it.  Notwithstanding that at the time of this release, Darkthrone were dropping Plaguewielder, one of their less popular releases and one that was certainly far away from the quality of their nineties' output.  There is an argument to say that come 2001, Armagedda were better at being Darkthrone than Darkthrone were at the time.

Talk of obvious influences aside, Armagedda themselves were only two years into their existence come the release of their debut album.  Having formed as Volkermord in 1999 before changing their name to Armagedda just one year later, the band certainly lived up to their apocalyptic band name with their primitive yet relentless eight song offering to the black metal world.  The scathing and impertinent vocals of Graav being a perfect accompaniment to the clumsy and cumbersome riffs he was also responsible for (closing track My Eternal Journey in particular exposes these riff challenges).  Yet at the same time when in full-tilt black metal mode (Deathminded), Armagedda more than make a case for them justifying those heady Darkthrone comparisons.  Whilst not innovators (who the fuck was in black metal come 2001??) I would not say the Swedes class as imitators either.  Their passionate sense of belonging to that second wave sound is obvious for all of The Final War Approaching.

With their thin guitar tone and strong tremolo presence, Armagedda more than make their mark on their debut full-length.  If you are looking for a great second wave bm album from after the actual scene itself had been and gone, then you would be hard-pressed to find a better offering than this.  Looking at their discography, Armagedda rarely seem to put a foot wrong and why would they based on this solid foundation stone to kick start their back-catalogue?

I first encountered the 2001 debut album from Swedish black metallers Armagedda back in 2009 after quite enjoying their 2003 sophomore album “Only True Believers” & subsequently giving the band’s other two albums a quick once over. There can be no denying that “The Final War Approaching” offers a very familiar formula. The question is really about whether you NEED your black metal to reach out a little further than to simply emulate the greats of the genre or not. I generally find that I don’t personally. I can easily tolerate a band that creates a very similar sound to a band that I love as long as it’s done really well. So just how well does Armagedda do it here then? Let’s find out.

Armagedda have quite clearly been studying hard at the Fenriz School of Black Metal because “The Final War Approaching” sounds pretty much exactly like Darkthrone’s classic “Transilvanian Hunger” album which is admittedly one of my all-time favourite black metal records. Front man Graav (LIK/Lönndom) summons forth a suitably grim variation on Nocturno Culto’s blackened snarl while his predominantly tremolo-picked riffs consistently manage to conjure up that 1990’s Scandinavian atmosphere without ever really achieving the x-factor that the Norwegian black metal gods seemed to able to come up with upon demand. I’d suggest that the production has been left intentionally variable which was a feature of some of Darkthrone’s unholy trinity & it works pretty well here too although bassist Andreas Petterson (Stilla/Leviathan/Lönndom) may disagree with me as it depends on which song you’re listening to as to whether you can make out his basslines or not. Drummer Phycon (Leviathan) doesn’t exactly benefit either as his kit sounds pretty awful & highlights his limitations as a musician pretty obviously, although this is admittedly in line with the aesthetic that Armagedda were going for anyway.

Despite the obvious plagiarism, I find myself enjoying most of “The Final War Approaching”. The A side is unanimously successful in its quest to keep the listener engaged through a simple formula of hypnotic & melodic tremolo-picked riffs, simplistic & uncluttered drumming & blasphemous & demonic vocals. Things start to fall apart at various stages during the back end of the tracklisting (see “Unholy Sacrifice” & “Död och pina”) but there’s certainly enough quality on offer to make the album a satisfying listen for those with a penchant for other Swedish bands who make a similar attempt at the Darkthrone model like Craft or Pest. Armagedda’s best moments invariably come when they slow things down a little on tracks like “Skogens mörka djup” (my personal favourite) & “My Eternal Journey” but they can also be quite effective when they hit top speed as they do during the faster sections of “Transilvanian Hunger”-worshipping opener “Deathminded”. Where they fall in a heap is when they opt for punky one-two style beats as they inevitably work to detract from some potentially strong song-writing & leave me feeling a little disappointed at the completion of each track they're employed on.

At the end of the day, I feel that I can be reasonably confident in saying that “The Final War Approaching” will appeal to those black metal fans that crave atmosphere over originality but will leave many a bit cold through its blatant genericism. Personally, I fall into the former camp & have subsequently found a fair bit to like about the album without any risk of it becoming a long-term favourite. I guess I just love the purist black metal model & always have. It’s nice to be able to indulge in music that makes you feel nostalgic at times though, isn’t it? Especially when it’s executed with a clear understanding of what made the original masters so great to begin with.

P.S. The irony of this release sounding much more like Darkthrone than this month's Darkthrone feature release has not escaped me either.

Armagedda are a Swedish three-piece comprising guitarist/bassist A (Andreas Petterson), who is also vocalist with Stilla, vocalist/guitarist Graav who is also known as solo artist LIK and drummer Phycon whose other gig is drummer with Swedish death metallers Feral. Originally splitting in 2004 after the release of their Ond Spiritism album, A and Graav started off again as folk metal band Lönndom until 2014 when that band too split-up. They then reformed Armagedda in 2020, despite saying back in '04 that the band was gone forever.

The Final War Approaching was released in 2001 and is a minimal production-values effort that has a blasphemous, icy edge to it, taking their cue from Darkthrone's classic era in it's minimalist execution. The point needs to be made that although the production is raw, it achieves perfectly the desired effect and it isn't messy in a demo-quality kind of way, as everything is quite distinct in the mix and this is certainly no unlistenable, muddy mess. Despite the vocals and riffing taking precedence, the bass and drums aren't short -changed and both are perfectly audible without becoming intrusive, which is always a danger, particularly with drumming. Graav has a nice line in cracked shrieking that sounds great in the context of this kind of raw production and produces the kind of infected, evil-sounding vocal performance that so suits the rawer style of black metal. The guitars have that thin, stripped back sound with a slight echo that the second wave was built upon and the riffs are great and with a pretty high memorability factor.

This is exactly the kind of album that perfectly sums up what I want from my black metal, you can virtually smell the blood and brimstone emanating from the record's grooves. Sure, all the experimentation, dissonance and avant-garde stylings are great in their place, but seem to have become the be all and end all among the black metal cognoscenti and they don't encapsulate what I look to black metal for. Being a dyed-in-the-wool, stuck-in-his-ways old bastard I will stick with the stuff that makes me happiest and that is exactly this kind of raw, unholy, blasphemous-sounding shit.