Review by Krys on March 4, 2004.

Since I've never heard their debut "A World Depraved," I took a peek at the press notes first to find Amaran described as a mix of In Flames and The Gathering. I thought this might be quite interesting depending on what period of musical influences they took from the aforementioned bands.

First thing that struck me right off the bat was the thrash/death style of their music. It has a heavy and crisp sound and galloping guitars; it all reminded me of Arch Enemy but what surprised me the most was the beautiful, mid-range voice of Johanna DePierre. I can agree on some similarities to Anneke Van Giersbergen (The Gathering) but I found the vocals of Johanna DePierre being more of a blend of Anneke and Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil. And while clean female vocals are not a novelty in metal world anymore, done over aggressive music rather than a gothic doom style, at first sounded quite original and exciting. Why at first? After dozen of spins I actually found Amaran putting too much emphasis on her vocals. The tracks that shined the most are the fastest and most aggressive ones where harsh music creates a perfect contrast to her amazing voice (the fantastic 'Atropine' and 'Coming Home', or 'Katharsis' mixed with male growls or the guitar-rich 'Wraith') but where tempo takes a step back and the rest of the band seems to just fill the voids she just shouldn't carry the load by herself such as on 'Inflict,' or 'Crow Me'.

While those few setbacks throughout the whole album took away some of the initial appeal I'd mark their second effort as a very attractive release and worth checking out by melodic thrash metal fans, but there's no doubt in my mind that the best is yet to come for Amaran. The talent that has already shown itself on most of the "Pristine in Bondage" compositions only assures me that finding a perfect balance is just a matter of time. I'll be looking forward to their progress.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Felix on February 12, 2023.

Bezwering hail from the Netherlands and their second full-length called Dodenkroning is full of surprises (at least for me who is not familiar with their debut so far) and stylistic variations. It begins with a Darkthrone-like guitars (from the “The Cult Is Alive” period), but already the opener features some unexpected theatrical, clear vocals. The second number, 'Nijd', spreads a touch of industrial “Cyberchrist” (Impaled Nazarene) vibes. A total failure waits for the listener on track nine, a kind of coffeehouse music, harmless, lame and boring, that could have been written by Nattefrost in a very special and useless mood. Thank God, this is the absolute outsider on this album.

Anyway, let’s come back to the clean singing. They characterize especially 'Ontaarding', where harsh, demonic voices a hardly to find. It’s an impressive performance of the lead vocalist whose contribution goes hand in hand with the uniform, stoic guitars. The Dutch dudes show their full potential in this song; and fortunately in some further ones as well. The triple strike at the beginning is a promising start for the well produced album. Guitars, voice and drums get their rightful share, only the bass is hardly audible. Business as usual.

Based on a hostile atmosphere, Bezwering’s songs spread cold and more or less cruel vibrations. The lead singer does not only score with his “normal” voice. He is also able to play the venomous, salivating troll who hates humanity – at least this is what I thought until I took a closer look in the booklet. It reveals that the screams are done by the bass player (his kind of revenge for neglecting his instrument?). Alfschijn, the lead vocalist, contributes only the sublime, heroic, dark yet human sounds. Anyway, the job sharing works. In contrast, there are minor problems with 'Vurzuucht', not a bad piece, but still too long and not focused enough.

Bezwering take an interesting route at the frontier between harmony and brutality. There are a lot of melodic parts, but they do not dilute the black metal aroma. Perhaps you like to check 'Ondergronds', a highlight of the album’s second half, in order to verify my statement. Restless guitar lines stand shoulder to shoulder with the raw vocals of the verses, but the Wagner-esque chorus gives the song an additional colour. Maybe the more or less classic vocals spoil the pleasure for some freaks, but from my point of view, Bezwering do not give us an overdose of histrionic behaviour.

In rare moments, the Dutch combo almost sounds like Candlemass and you guessed it: once again, this is due to the clean vocals. But all in all, Bezwering have the ambition to create an individual sound and in my humble opinion they are successful in doing so. The closer with its morbid guitar lines spits out the listener and releases him again into a world whose coldness is similar to that of Dodenkroning.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10