ODZ MANOUK / TUKAARIA – SPLIT LP (Final Agony Records)

How do you quantify value for money? There are only 31 minutes of music on this split ‘album’, but it must be noted that said 31 minutes deliver some sensational underground Black Metal. Both Odz Manouk and Tukaaria produce incredibly uncompromising, raw, intense, in-your-face-blackness that swirls and cascades and teeters on the brink of (in)audibility and, as such, at times could barely be categorised as music, per fucking se.

The dense layers do reveal themselves – albeit rather reluctantly – upon repeated listening and myriad devious melodies are buried beneath the harsh cavern of immovable dissonance and stubborn lo-fidelity. This is analogue Black Metal at its finest and is as devastating as it is acute. Short it may well be, but ‘Odz Manouk / Tukaaria’ packs a powerful punch that comes all the way from the metaphorical calves.

Evilometer: 666/666