01. Ekur
02. Imdugud
03. Alû
04. Sahar
05. Shamash
06. Edimmu
07. Etemenanki
08. Namtaru
09. Lamashtu
10. Anzû
From the dissonant to the melodic, Portugal’s Anzv tackle a few different approaches to black metal on Kur, each of them brought to fruition with emphatic writing and an engulfing sound.
There’s a particular style of modern black metal, one that I can only describe (for lack of better terminology immediately at hand) as ‘anything that sounds loosely like Schammasch or Panzerfaust’; give me hoarse, roaring vocals, ominous blackened riffs and emphatic percussion, and there’s a good chance that I’m going to be ranking your album pretty highly come year end. While the aforementioned bands are the most reliable source of excellent material in this vein, I’ve discovered a decent number of acts rising from the underground that ably scratch that itch; with their sophomore album, Anzv are the latest such discovery, but it would be reductive to the range of sounds explored on Kur to pigeonhole it as just dark and sinister.
That vibe was what initially drew me to the release, admittedly; with the album starting and ending in such a vein, it influences one’s initial perceptions of the record as a whole. Closing track “Anzû” is fairly brief and straightforward in its ripping dissonance-tinged blasting assault, but opener “Ekur” exhibits more range, revelling in slow, ominous atmosphere for the first couple of minutes before gradually dialling up the aggression and intensity. While the band’s drummer, credited simply as ‘E.’, isn’t necessarily the next Alexander Kartashov, the range displayed across both this song and the album as a whole suggests at influence from Kartashov (particularly in the quick cymbal work), and his drumwork raises the quality of the music in a comparable way to what Kartashov brings to Panzerfaust.
Probably the peak of the album’s darker material is its centrepiece and longest track, “Edimmu”; the busy drumwork and atmospheric lead guitar lines show off that Panzerfaust influence right from the off, and while the blast-accompanied tremolo riffs that follow are strong on their own, the recurring passage in which the rapid cymbal rhythm combines with a tremendous tremolo motif is a pretty perfect example of one of my favourite approaches in modern black metal. “Namtaru” is not quite as awe-inspiring, but it very effectively channels a compelling dark atmosphere with its murky riffs and blast beat attacks.
As alluded to earlier, however, there is another side to Kur, and it is perhaps slightly ironic that the song “Shamash”, named after the Mesopotamian god that inspired the name of one of the best purveyors of malevolent modern black metal in Schammasch, is one of the most melodic tracks featured on the record. There’s an intrinsic melancholia to the arpeggiated chord riff that opens and subsequently dominates the song in tandem with sorrowful tremolo guitar leads. While there are moments of darker extremity in the middle of the song, its overarching vibe is quite a contrast to “Edimmu” (the song it immediately precedes on the tracklist), yet its execution is similarly strong.
Other quality examples of Anzv’s meloblack edge include “Sahar” and “Imdugud”; the former is the most classically meloblack here, what with the central melodic tremolo riff and rolling double bass accompaniment, but the latter offers a bit more variety on top. One element of variety that both it and “Lamashtu” provide that could perhaps do with a bit of work is the inclusion of clean vocals, which are promising in theory (with very appealing melodic lines) but not entirely flawless in their delivery. Having said that, I am a fan of the harsh vocal style employed throughout the album by Daniel Lopes, who makes his first appearance on a full-length Anzv record.
A couple of tracks strive to bridge the extremes of the album’s musical range, most notably “Etemenanki”, which allows a bright guitar lead to convey melody in tandem with intense drumming before taking a collective turn towards a more malevolent sound during its midsection, but in truth Kur never feels like it needs a blend of its sounds; there’s enough tonal consistency from the band’s performance such that the bleak and the melodic slot alongside one another in the tracklist without whiplash, and with songwriting as strong as that displayed with the likes of “Edimmu” and “Sahar”, Anzv demonstrate themselves to be a fearsome force in the black metal scene no matter what they set their mind to.
 | Written on 09.06.2025 by Hey chief let’s talk why not |