Arnaut Pavle – demo (Vlad Tapes, 2013)

If it hasn’t by now become readily apparent, black metal cassettes are here to stay.  Sure, big name metal bands like Pig Destroyer are getting in on the act, but I’m pretty sure that has more to do with labels smelling a potential trend to jump on than any sort of real appreciation for the lo-fi aesthetic.  Cassettes work for black metal because sounding like shit works for black metal.  It is a genre of music more perfectly suited to the format than any other; dark, ugly and fucking primitive.

One of the best black metal cassettes I’ve discovered recently is the 2013 demo from Arnaut Pavle, a Finnish band that takes its name from a Serbian man who allegedly became a vampire after his death in 1726.  Their sound recalls early Darkthrone, mixed with the punk rock-derived filth ‘n’ fury that only the Finns seem capable of bringing to the genre these days.  What the hell is going on over in Finland that on one hand produces badass bands like Arnaut Pavle and on the other hand fruit-bot shit like Wintersun?  The world is a strange place.

Anyway, what we have here is seven songs, eighteen minutes and thirty three seconds of grit and grime that brings absolutely nothing new to the table, but is so goddamn good at what it does that no one who hears it will give a flying fuck about the lack of originality.  I mean let’s be honest, originality and innovation are overrated; craftsmanship is where it’s at and Arnaut Pavle are most definitely craftsmen.  They’re taking gnarly-ass noise and spinning it into black gold, one dirt-caked chord at a time, and where I come from that’s no bad thing.

As is typically the case with these bands doing the cassette trip, there is little information available about Arnaut Pavle.  The cassette is already sold out from the cleverly named Vlad Tapes, but you can stream three of the demo’s seven songs on Bandcamp or download the full release over at the excellent Svn-Okklt blog; other than that, details are painfully scarce.  Of course it’s the music that matters, but I’m always glad to see a band at least attempting to create something resembling a mystique; it’s tougher than ever to do in 2013, but Satan bless ’em for trying.

Special thanks goes to UA of The Ash Eaters for tipping me off on these guys.