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STARK DENIAL
War EP

Incanned Productions (2013)
Rating: 7.5/10

Well, it’s not every day you get to hear a slice of vicious Indian black metal. Stark Denial has been in existence since 2009 but War is their first offering and it’s one I’m very impressed with.

Whilst the city doesn’t exactly conjure images of grim snowy wastes, Stark Denial’s debut EP is the sort of record that wouldn’t appear out of place back in the early to mid 90s during that second wave of hideous European black metal that mainly squirmed from those Scandinavian shores.

The band is fronted by Kunal Gonsalves, who provides scratchy, throaty gurgles throughout, coming to the fore with the evil sounding vibes of ‘Conquering Thy Enemies Throne’. The song shows a nice mixture of pace and melody, especially with the monstrous drumming display of Vineet Nair, who really shines throughout like a dim beacon in the nightside eclipse. Elsewhere, Ruark D’souza and Sunny Heith provide the scything, wicked guitars which one moment are rattling along like a bag of skulls attached to the back of a headless horseman, but the next the axemen are comfortable to produce icy melody which is bolstered by the bass of Paresh Garude.

Stark Denial have clearly thought this EP through and come armed with five tracks, climaxing with an impressive cover of Marduk’s classic ‘Panzer Division Marduk’. However, the band clearly have enough talent to muster their own gargantuan black metal atrocities, namely in that brooding five-minute ‘Conquering Thy Enemies Throne’ with its doom-laden interludes and sinister gargles. But one also can’t ignore the foetid ‘Gates Of War’, which rises from the ashes of the opening instrumental ‘The Beginning’. Of the original tracks on offer this is clearly the spikiest and boasts some nice touches of pace. ‘Wrath’ digs deeper into the macabre realms of old school black metal, meanwhile, but this time the band are intent on crushing all in their wake as they lumber from the gates of hell like some sprawling demonic plague.

Fans of old school, evil-sounding black metal will enjoy what Stark Denial has to offer. Although lacking originality, these guys are clearly passionate about their unholy task and their commentaries on the war-torn are nicely accompanied by those ever-changing dynamics, which suggest this is a band at ease with pace and slower melody rather than relying on the typical, formulaic black metal structures.

I like this EP and think the future of Stark Denial looks very bright, and I look forward to the next chapter of tragedy and terror.

Neil Arnold

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