Reviewed - 05/19/04

Blackdoor Miracle
[Regain Records]

Well, after a bit of a delay due to someone screwing up in the manufacturing of the slipcase, Ragnarok's newest and fifth studio album "Blackdoor Miracle" finally sees the light of day.

"Blackdoor Miracle" is a sigh of relief to me. A relief that comes from the fact that it is are a totally raw and uncompromising black metal album, but it steers clear of that crappy production that a lot of albums like this use. Really, I can stand only a handful of those super raw black metal albums/bands. I know there are people out there that love it and think that low production values means greatness, but most of the time it's horrible sounding to me. Fortunately, Ragnarok has always taken a bit more care when it comes to their production. And they don't just play fast just for the sake of playing fast, which is equally as ridiculous as shitty production, to me. I guess you can call Ragnarok a raw black metal band with a touch of class. Hahaha...

"Blackdoor" Miracle" sees them steer into a bit of a different direction than their past albums. Earlier albums like "Arising Realm" had a slight touch of a Viking feel to it, and I'm kind of sad to see that go. "Blackdoor Miracle" is really fast black metal akin to the black metal bands of the early to mid 90's, and in parts they even have some sort of groove thing going on. It actually sounds great and if this was the sound they were going to trade their earlier sound for, it's okay in my book. I still prefer their earlier style, but this is almost as good, and I can see them not wanting to release the same sounding album every time a new album comes out. I can say one thing: They have definitely become more professional musicians than they were when they started out ten years ago. Really, drummer Jontho has turned into a fine drummer and is now one of the most under rated drummers out there. Guitarist Rym also deserves props too because while he is the lone guitarist, the guitar parts don't seem to be missing anything like what seems to happen in some one guitarist bands.

Ragnarok's new vocalist Hoest is insanity personified. I've always liked vocalists like this that can get the angry and violent point of the bands' lyrics across without sounding silly or repetitious. Truth be said, I believe Hoest is the best vocalist they have had up to this point. The lyrics are written in and sung in English and deal Evil and torture tactics. They are well written and more or less read like more bizarre and passionate Deicide lyrics. Heh...

The production, as I stated earlier, is friggin' great! No sounding like this album was recorded in a dumpster, no muffled drums or bass, no nothing like that. Man, I really wish more bands would strive for decent productions like this. Granted there are a FEW bands that I agree sound better due to an underpolished production, but ninety nine times out of one hundred, a good production is the way to go for me. I've seen many a "good" album that would have been great if the production was better. Note to other black metal bands: Follow Ragnarok's (and Marduk's) lead when it comes to producing your albums!

The packaging is another highlight of the album. I usually don't like album covers that are a collage of computer generated and real images, but this one is great. All of the colors are real vivid and hey... naked girls are always a great bonus. All of the lyrics are printed in the booklet they are easy to read since the font style is clean and the words are white in color while the rest of the pages are dark in color. The booklet also includes a photo of each of the band members. After ten years, Ragnarok still holds on to the use of corpse paint. Back five years ago or so, corpse paint was so prevalent in bands that it was becoming cliché. A lot of the older bands dropped the corpse paint, and a lot of newer bands never used it from the beginning. Ragnarok never joined the masses on that aspect and it's admirable that they stuck with the paint up until this point. Now the corpse paint thing has become almost obsolete making Ragnarok one of the few black metal bands to use it now, even though they have been doing so for ten years. A few small thing I have to comment on here since I'm talking about the packaging. First, earlier in this review I had noted how Ragnarok had lost the small bit of Viking influence they had earlier on in their career. I would have never categorized them as a total Viking metal band even back then, but that influence was definitely there in small doses. I notice that the Ragnarok logo on "Blackdoor Miracle" all of the sudden is missing the Thor's Hammer that used to be displayed proudly underneath their logo. I wonder if this is a conscious effort on their part to distance themselves from the Viking theme? Secondly, in the discography section on Ragnarok's official Website, the info states that the US version of "Blackdoor Miracle" (which I am reviewing) contains a bonus track called "It's War", but it's nowhere to be found on the CD. Hmmm...

Logo changes aside, "Blackdoor Miralce" is for anyone that loves the oldschool style black metal. I recommend it to anyone that likes this style of metal, and those that prefer a decent production to boot. Don't dismiss this album just because you think the only good black metal has to sound like crap, as this album is as fast and raw as they come. The great production is the icing on the cake.