Kaeck
Het Zwarte Dictaat

In the press material I read that Kaeck sounds darker and stronger than before, with before probably meaning the utterly useless debut album called Stormkult from 2016. Het Zwarte Dictaat would need to be both stronger and darker to be even close to worthwhile considering the last effort. But Kaeck has decided to make music in a genre where it is notoriously difficult to make worthwhile music, and that is already overlooded with generic albums that makes nothing but increase the number of albums released within a genre that probably has more band members than actual fans.

Take a look at the cover and ask yourself if the imagery appeals to you, it sounds exactly as it looks. Pretty generic black metal of the standard format, old school could probably describe it. Croaking voice, typical string mashing and things like that on an album that overstays its welcome with nearly 45 minutes of playing time split on seven tracks. Not much variation, if any. Vocals in Dutch, that is at least what I guesstimate as it is hard to listen to the words, but the titles indicate it. The production feels a bit like something by the cage dwellers of times long gone. No surprises.

It sounds ridiculous, like the genre usually does. It is hard to take black metal seriously with the croaking voice, the grey sounding productions and the appearance of brutality that nowhere near reflects the timidity of the sounds. Kaeck is fairly typical of this genre; they would have needed to be a whole lot darker and powerful if they wanted to accomplish anything. This is like any cheap garage production, it doesn’t sound good, it doesn’t even sound particularly bad, it is just crap. I saw some reviews giving seven of ten, in online reviews that is not particularly enthusiastic, I haven’t seen a single review giving this album high praises. So, the likelihood that you will like this album is very low.

The general Hallowed reader will not enjoy this one, perhaps you will like it if you are a fan of the generic black metal genre. And I guess Kaeck are pleased with that, why else would they make such meaningless albums?

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