text: Oscar Wendt
Antzaat
The Black Hand of the Father (EP)
Immortal Frost Productions
September 25th, 2017
New bands can be hit and miss these days. Very often, you really struggle to get any positives of an album being unable to make it to the end of the recording. Sometimes, however, a band comes along to restore your faith in the new groups. This is why it always makes me much more motivated when I encounter something like Antzaat. This Belgian band has risen out of nowhere and is now attacking with the debut EP album, The Black Hand of the Father, available soon through Immortal Frost Productions.
The image of Antzaat seems to be something we have seen before with Mgła or Svartidauði but this is irrelevant as the music defends himself. The Black Hand of the Father is smacking your face straightaway with a very engaging riff and be prepared – there is much more riffs like that coming! The album has got this depth which I always like as it constitutes to the exquisite nostalgic aura. And indeed, I think that the depth and atmosphere are the most important selling points of Antzaat’s debut offering.
Also, the album appears to have the more less uniform tempo, however, the more you listen to it, the more you find out some fleshy slowdowns that sound perfectly adequate to the whole form. Musically, Antzaat is going on the battle-proven path but twisting it a little bit to give it an extra nostalgic character which surely works for them well. The mixture of talent and a good music idea is a perfect ingredient for a debut album and Antzaat has managed to get it right.
Circle of Leeches features my favourite riff of the album and, in fact, is the strongest composition. Song writing is rather professional and it’s not missing anything you would want in a track. The coldness is devastating and the theme riff will definitely be stuck in your head for a while. This is not an isolated case because, as I said before, more captivating riffs will keep you 100% concentrated on The Black Hand of the Father which definitely maintains its level throughout.
The Black Hand of the Father makes you wish it was a full-length album, not just an EP. But at least it leaves you with the appetite and desire for more. Antzaat sounds like a very promising Belgian group to keep an eye and ear on. Being so neatly defined from the very beginning is something a lot of new bands are missing so a round of applause must be given to this quartet for sure. And okay, okay… I’m going to say it – Antzaat goes straight on the list of the best debuts of 2017. Listen to The Black Hand of the Father yourself to see that I’m not exaggerating…
Antzaat
Immortal Frost Productions
THE GOAT TAVERN 