Horizon of Events

Italy may not have many bands known to wide audience but especially the last decade it shows a gradual upward trend concerning Black Metal and has a quite big underground scene and some very good bands. Chelmno that as you have understood they come from Italy, they formed in 2003 and they have released a demo, a split and two full length albums. “Horizon of Events” is the second full length album of the band and it was released in 2010.

In this album Chelmno play a primitive Black Metal with roots stuck deep in the early Norwegian sound with many influences of Thrash and the old school dark Metal (Celtic Frost, Bathory). The riffs are very powerful and interesting that the listener won’t get bored neither in the fast chaotic parts nor in the mid – tempo parts in which some more epic influences of the band appears. The guitars have a weird sound maybe because of the winding or of the distortion but it fits much to the style and makes the spooky and chaotic character of the compositions even more intensive. The drums are to a very good level, powerful, without mistakes and generally they offer to the composition something more. The vocals are harsh Black vocals which are lower in the mix and in parts they are like a whisper but they are quite expressive and in general they aren’t bad. I think that they should be a little louder in the mix.

Now about the bass I can’t write anything. The mix is such that I can’t understand the bass. I think this is the big disadvantage of the album, the production and the mix. Fortunately it doesn’t make the listening of the album hard, the guitars and drums can be heard clearly. What that makes the production bad is that the bass can’t be heard so there isn’t the depth that the compositions should have. Also the mix doesn’t give that massive sound which would fit perfectly to the style of the album and it would highlight the compositions better. I don’t know if that was the band’s decision so as to make the sound more primitive but I think it was wrong. Apart from the problem with the mix though the album is quite good. The lyrics are in English but in the cd’s booklet there are the lyrics of only two tracks. I think that they deal with cosmos theories combined to personal thoughts.

Musically Chelmno may not offer something new in Black Metal but the music that they play, they play it well without coping and with character and personality. If they take more care of the mix in the next album I think that we would talk about an excellent release. About “Horizon of Events” even if it is wronged by the production, I enjoyed it. Listen to it.