Vattnet Viskar | ‘Vattnet Viskar’

Plaistow, New Hampshire’s Vattnet Viskar (“Water Whispers”) appear to be a band in something of a hurry.

The quartet’s 2011 demo was a 15 minute demonstration of post-Wolves in the Throne Room atmospheric black metal, and this self-titled effort offers 3 tracks proper for your consideration.

It’s promising though at times stereotypical fare. For the most part, the album is full of riffs, drumbeats and vocals you’ve heard somewhere else before, and all too frequently the clichés of the genre are complied with in a fashion that makes the record seem derivative.

Everything is well constructed, but there’s an emptiness where some form of personality or aesthetic should be. The result is ’Intention Oblivion’, a track that feels as though it’s been taken straight from Two Hunters’ cutting room floor, the mid-paced drone dulling the pace of the album entirely.

Improvements may come with experience, however; moments of ‘Barren Earth’ and, in particular, ‘Weakness’ demonstrate an ear for the kind of wonderful, ascending riff that used to lift the very best Enslaved songs into different territory from their peers.

The EP as a whole feels flustered, and is trying too hard to get a great record down too soon. There’s something to keep an eye on here, and if Vattnet Viskar learn to let their songs breathe a little then they may yet write something truly memorable. As it stands, this is a decent effort from a capable young band that’s much too indebted to the very recent past of black metal.

2.8 / 5 – Kev Tracey ::: 10/06/12