Exitium's Woe J. Reaper is the twisted mind and sole musician behind raw and eccentric Norwegian one man black metal outfit Furze. While bands unfortunately too often associate the phrases 'primitive' and 'raw' with lightning-paced exercises in trying to sound like early Bathory, Furze go beyond such simple notions, with the Reaper stripping black metal down to its primal elements, and then arranging these in truly evocative and fascinating ways. The resultant sound is, as I'm sure has been noted before, not for the faint-hearted. 'Necromanzee Cogent' the bands second studio album makes for eerie, skitzoid, unnerving listening at times, but it is a refreshing and rewarding experience. At their core, many of the tracks on 'Necromanzee Cogent' are old-school black metal arrangements, functioning around discordant layers of lead guitar and busy drumming, with a typically no-frills production quality; in fact, this was recorded on Reaper's 8-track. Tracks like 'For the Lust of Darkness', 'Leizla' and 'Necrosaint Black Metal' are all celebrations of the old-school sound, chaining together cutting, simplistic riffs to shape songs which have a suprisingly catchy groove to them. You can't miss Woe J. Reaper's vocals. His attitude to the human voice as an instrument within black metal is what makes many of his songs so disturbing and challenging. 'Necromanzee Cogent' sees him chant, croak, growl, whine and bark his way through the tracks, often pushing his voice into strange, inhuman places. He also has an interest in the effect of manic laughter on his songs' atmospheres, which can be very unnerving. The inventive, fearless approach to vocals gives this album much of its evil tone, and constantly keeps the listener aware. Furze separates itself from standard raw black metal through this willingness to experiment. What Furze achieved on 'Necromanzee Cogent' was a use of primitive BM ideas to connect with the grimmest parts of the soul. If your taste or curiosity extend towards the bleaker, more broken end of the black metal spectrum, this is a gem you won't want to miss; in fact, you'll want to sit in a dark room listening to its mixture of classic black metal and inventive musical primitivism over and over again.
