Snogg
Chhinnamasta
Self-Released
Snogg hail from Slovenia and are a duo that has so far released a demo and three short releases. Chhinnamasta represents their first full length and oh my, what a debut it is. They call their sound “Free Ride Black Metal” and “Experimental Black Metal” and that might sound pretentious but it’s actually fairly accurate, although this release concentrates more on hammering riffs and slower, crushing passages than anything super-experimental.
There is no mercy here. Snogg comes right out of the gate with Mighty Riffs designed to punish and please at the same time, the crack of a whip that draws blood but still sends shivers down your spine. Opener “Y’ (Ddraig Goch)” is as fine an example of what you’re going to get through the whole record as anything: eight minutes of headbanging, melody, weird noise fuzz, gargled and growled vocals, and a glacial pace that nevertheless speeds things along. Snogg take you on a journey, one filled with twists and turns and they never, ever let you get comfortable. Just when the Doom of it all starts to make you nod off, a melodic passage comes along to shake you up, and then they just curb-stomp you with a fistful of riffs.
My only complaint would be that song “Void of Valor” is nothing but ambient noise. It sounds like someone left their phone on and butt-dialed you while walking through a cemetery at night, with the occasional chiming guitars in the background. It’s not bad, but at five minutes long it definitely counts as filler. However, it leads right into the massive and epic “Phantom Mountain,” so this complaint is really very minor. This bit of respite sets up the rest of the record, so it has value. Maybe just make it two minutes long instead of five?
That said, Snogg have delivered one of my favorite new albums of the year so far. This is right up my alley: Death and Doom and Black and grinding, crushing songs that churn you under like a tank rolling over a stack of dead bodies. There is something epic going on here, as these guys deftly move around musical subgenres with style and ease and darkened grace.
Three Wands out of Four
The Wizard has spoken!