Review Summary: Like a fleet of tanks waving the “Militant Pagan Black Metal” flag, Panzerfaust roll in with a black metal assault to blow us back to the dark ages.
Panzerfaust may not ring familiar with most black metal fanatics and this is no surprise. Coming from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, this isn’t exactly a great breeding place for black metal bands, especially bands that are pagan based and use primitive World War II history lessons to conjure up enjoyable black metal. What’s stunning about their debut is the fact that they sound like seasoned veterans of the raw black metal style that was coming out of Norway in the early 90s. Forming in 2005 and releasing an E.P.
The Winds Will Lead Us, Panzerfaust did some low key touring and improved their chops along the way before releasing 2008s
The Dark Age of Militant Paganism.
Comprising the entire album, Panzerfaust deliver Dissection-esque black metal on all ten tracks without ever full on plagiarizing their black metal heroes. Instead, Panzerfaust have opted to do things their own way by incorporating militant like chops with commanding song structures that will even have the most avid black metal fans saluting their flag. Laying down a solid rhythm foundation that varies extremely well for a band of this type, Lord Baphomet destroys his kit with varying tempos of blast beats (pretty much every song), militant marching sections (the excellent “Iconoclast”), and mid tempo doomy passages (the hilariously titled “Impale the Nazarene (*** You Father for I Have Sinned”)). Found amongst the drumming mayhem is a steady arsenal of riffs that are comprised of splendid northerly frigid melodies (pretty much every song), snarling down-tuned tremolo picking (personal favourite “Storming Under Blackened Horizons”, but still, pretty much every song), and heavy riffs abound (I promise this is the last time, pretty much every song). This formula may sound redundant to read but what did you expect? This is black metal and they mix it up well.
If there is one thing to criticize about this album, it can be found within the lyrics, which are to never be taken seriously anyways. Goliath’s raspy screams are convincing enough of the concepts he covers throughout the album (anti-Christianity, World War II themes, Paganism) that no one should really care how he constructs his lyrics anyways. For a band that is unheard of from such an unusual black metal breeding ground, this is an excellent debut within the black metal scene. The band conquers what they set out to do: roll their tanks up to a church full of Christians and blast the living hell out of it!
