KOMMANDANT – Exhibition Of Conquest

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7.0

• Band:
  COMMANDER
• Duration: 00:27:17
• Available from: 12/07/2024
• Label:

• Eternity of Darkness

Marduk remain the tutelary deities of the Chicago band, even without seeing that more rotten and psychotic component, which certainly harks back to the Finnish black metal school, eliminated. Certainly, Kommandant have never gone beyond the Nineties and, if for certain sounds this nostalgia finds us generally in agreement, the theme remains of how something is still missing to make a clear leap in quality. The impact is there, the nastiness too, overall the “adulthood” (abundant, given that the first demo dates back to twenty years ago) has been reached, and one cannot complain too much in front of an adrenaline-filled listen and graced by a varied songwriting. It might not actually be read exactly as a compliment, but a full-bodied EP is probably the size that best suits Kommandant, who on such a length avoid the risk of getting lost among ideas and sounds that are even too wavering. Green light, then, for a good part of the album, to the assault with the bladed weapon: without compromise, as happens in the frenetic “Zweikampf”, or vaguely mediated by short midtempo passages with an esoteric flavor (“Reborn Into Violence”). But, faithful to their desire to express different souls, sometimes even refined, there is also space for songs that combine the bellicose approach with an almost folk taste, which enriches the sense of martiality (“Arsenal”, a decidedly apt title) or more hallucinatory, with a real vocal bacchanal (“The Standard”). To then arrive at the title-track, placed at the end, which loosens the tones with an unpredictable epicness and captivating guitar passages slowed down and suffocating, children of that never completely dormant death metal matrix.
In short, we are not faced with the album that will overturn the judgment towards Kommandant, but if the suffocating heat makes you desire even more glacial and malignant sounds, “Exhibition Of Conquest” can be a pleasant aperitif.