It might seem odd, but Black Metal and India, doesn’t it sound like a weird relationship? Indeed it is. I know a couple of (highly interesting) Death Metal acts from out there, but Toxoid, well, they are my first acquaintance with the Indian Black Metal scene. Once again it is, of course, Transcending Obscurity (at least the India-based sub-label) that gives the opportunity to our half of the globe to learn about them. Thanks, Kunal!
So, Toxoid are a very young act from the city of New Delhi, and the album Aurora Satanae is their first official release. It was originally released digitally by the band itself at the end of July this year, and now it will be released on CD too. The six tracks lasts for about half an hour, and the artwork and lay-out were created by label-manager Kunal.
When I first listened to this album, and still now, after three listens, I am completely blown away as from the very first chords on the album (by means of the track Baphomet Enraged). What a surprise! It has not to do with the craftsmanship only; after five seconds you can’t have an opinion yet. But this is Norway and Sweden anno 1993-1997! Honestly, I did expect to hear a catchy and / or symphonic and / grooving and / or mainstream form of Black Metal, but what this trio brings is the most grim, nasty and malicious supremacy of Norway’s and Sweden’s Second Wave glory.
Every single piece on Aurora Satanae – there are six compositions – sounds as if it were recorded twenty years ago at Grieghallen or Abyss Studio; it surely goes for the unpolished, rusty sound too (which evidently perfectly fits to this stuff, and which does drench the misanthropic atmosphere into the most obscure pits from the Underworld). There is quite some variation in melody and speed, with especially lots of faster pieces. That has to do, amongst others, with the furious drum blasts that hammer a skull-less brain with sardonic pleasure. And then those vocals, sounding like a singing chainsaw covered in acid and venom. But it’s rather simple: Toxoid listened to the Scandinavian school, made an own interpretation of it, and they must have been asking the Dark Lord himself to perfect the stuff; it must have happened this way, because such majesty is hallucinatory.
There are some minor mistakes, but I will ignore them completely.
Listen, if you consider yourself a fan of, let’s say, earlier Gorgoroth, Immortal, Dark Funeral, Setherial, Diabolicum, Svartsyn, Taake and our own Enthroned, then you haven’t but two choices: either you buy this stuff, or you steal it from someone who already bought it. Not my copy, for I will defend it mercilessly!