The majority of 'Written In Waters' revolves around strange, percussive textures, and a very bleak atmosphere. Although a track like 'Autumn Leaves' gives the listener a respite from the darkness and frantic feel, these human moments are fairly few and far between. As far as the writing here goes, Ved Buens Ende are masters of making melodies that can be plenty memorable, without necessarily being pretty or beautiful. The songwriting here is made even more challenging by the somewhat muddy production, which obscures parts of the sound to the point where a listener might even hear things that aren't necessarily there. There are plenty of echo and reverb effects to go around here, and gives the whole thing a very otherworldly feel. The guitars are very percussive and dissonant, often alternating between very abrasive black metal riffs and sombre moments of dark psychedelia. Most of the vocals here are cleanly sung in a gloomy baritone, with only a few traditional black metal rasps to go around. In other words, it was a real pioneer, doing things for black metal that were pretty uncomfortable at the time. The point I should bring up is that those two bands made their mark even a decade after 'Written In Waters' was released. Their sound is somewhat related to the more recent work of Deathspell Omega, and Blut Aus Nord. Let it be said that Ved Buens Ende were years ahead of their contemporaries. However, there is method to this madness, and while I found myself having to revisit it many times to really 'get it', 'Written In Waters' is an exceptional piece of Norwegian metal. With that information laid down as a precedent, it is understandable that the music here is quite challenging to get into. Although the career of this band may have been very short, it is massively influential, and seen as the album that largely laid the groundwork for avant-garde black metal. Although this band eventually revived in the form of Virus, Ved Buens Ende only ever released this one full length, 'Written In Waters'. Although not coming too far after the pioneers of the infamous second wave of Norwegian black metal, they had a sound that was vastly different, going down a much more experimental route, while keeping all of the same eerie atmosphere that makes the genre of black metal so appealing to some. Ved Buens Ende is a legendary band in the Norwegian black metal scene. 'Written In Waters' - Ved Buens Ende (8/10) Newcommers should probably start with "Written in Waters (1995)". All in all "Those Who Caress the Pale" certainly is a worthy purchase to fans of the band. The sound quality isn´t professional but the lo-fi sound production still suits the raw music well. Both "A Mask In The Mirror", "The Plunderer" and the instrumental "Those Who Caress The Pale" are great tracks and should be of interest to fans of the band while the CD version bonus track "Insects, Part I", which consists of insect noises and tortured screaming and yelling for a couple of minutes before there is silence for about 4 minutes until the insects noises reappear, isn´t really much of a bonus to my ears. Out of the five tracks on "Those Who Caress the Pale", "The Carrier of Wounds" and " You That May Wither" are also featured on "Written in Waters (1995)" but the rest are tracks didn´t make it unto the album. The music sometimes reminds me of the most raw Voivod albums mixed with primitive black metal but with strange twist and turns and haunting deranged vocals. Ved Buens Ende is a rather unique act with a unique sound that is both raw and aggressive but at the same time melancholic/atmospheric. This was also the three-piece that recorded "Written in Waters (1995)". The demo led to the band signing with Misanthropy records for the release of their debut full-length studio album "Written in Waters (1995)".Īt the time of the release of this demo, Ved Buens Ende consisted of Vicotnik (Dødheimsgard, Code, Manes, Naer Mataron) on guitars and vocals, Skoll (Arcturus, Fimbulwinter, Ulver) on bass and Carl-Michael Eide (Dødheimsgard, Aura Noir, Cadaver Inc, Infernö, Virus, Satyricon, Ulver) on drums, guitars and vocals. The re-release features the bonus track "Insects, Part I" and is probably the most readily available version. The demo was originally released in 1994 on cassette tape but saw a CD re-release through Ancient Lore Creations in 1997. "Those Who Caress the Pale" is a demo release by Norwegian avant garde extreme metal act Ved Buens Ende.
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