In their five year of existence, German act Porta Nigra did release a couple of mini-releases, one full length, and they contributed on one of the Elemental Nightmares splits. Now the duo returns with the second full album, Kaiserschnitt, a Decadent Dark Metal album that lasts for more than three quarters of an hour. And once again the lyrical approach is quite apart, this time based on the pre-war era of the mighty German empire at the beginning of last century – but not to be considered as a tribute to Kaiser Wilhelm II and his crazy crew; on the contrary.
Kaiserschnitt is a superb expression of majestic, megalomaniac and martial Industrial Post-Black Metal with a Black’n’Roll attitude, a progressive execution and lots of avant-garde inspired experiments. The global structures are based on groovy, hammering rhythms and sharp-edged riffs, permanently redefined by atonal, discordant and / or unconventional details. …though ‘details’ is an underrated description for the result isn’t about details only. As a matter of fact, there are so many levels, stylistically and structurally, multi-disciplined and multi-dimensional, confusing the listener’s mind time after time by the eccentric song writing and execution. One cannot blame this duo for lacking inspiration of creativity, neither for lacking variation and craftsmanship!
The ‘decadence’ mentioned by the label for sure is a fitting description. The non-conforming approach, the many diverse influences from different Extreme Metal angles, and the colossal, even brutal production breathe perverted decadence, intolerable disgust and sadistic warlust. And what strikes me, strengthening my verdict, is the canalisation of self-faced identity (this is a difficult way to say that Porta Nigra have created their very own style), being a unique one yet still searching for more depth, as far as my concern…