When Black Metal arose from the depths of the underground in 1991, after some years seeming to be dead, it was truly an explosion, with many bands appearing at the same time in many countries of the world, being the leading ones Greece with ROTTING CHRIST, NECROMANTIA and others, Sweden with MARDUK, OPHTHALAMIA and others, Norway with MAYHEM BURZUM, EMPEROR and many others, and France with the bands from LLN (Les Legions Noires) circle. But the style fragmented on the second half of the 90s, giving birth to many kinds of new sound possibilities. Post Black Metal is one of them, and bands as the Austrian group ANOMALIE can be a fine example of what the genre is up to. Pay attention on "Visions", their third album, and you'll understand what Post Black Metal is.

Their musical core is based on the clear idea: fusing the aggressiveness and raw sound of Black Metal in the way of the ancients from Norway (the same I named above) with some melancholic ideas from Doom/Gothic, like you could bind together MY DYING BRIDE on its earlier works with the intensity of ULVER on "Bergtatt" era and SATYRICON from the old ages of "Dark Medieval Times" and "The Shadowthrone". Yes, it's different, because it's heavy and melancholic, aggressive and introspective, and truly creative.

The production of "Visions" was done by Marrok (the band's leader and only fix member), having Markus Stock on the recording, mixing, and mastering of the album. They created a moldy and morbid sound quality, focusing their efforts on the creation of an introspective and raw sound, giving the necessary sonority to their songs. But don't tear out your hairs: the sound is clean enough to be understood. The art created by Irrwisch to the cover is truly good as well. On "Visions" you have as well the presence of some guests: Barth making the vocals on "Vision I: Towards the Sun" and Heike Langhans doing the same on "Vision VII: One with the Soil", and Peter Schiendorfer on the percussion.

The songs are all truly good, but the best ones are: the long and bitter raw sound of "Vision I: Towards the Sun", the morbid melodies and melancholy of "Vision II: The Wanderer" (fine vocals, indeed), the catchy and seductive darkened melodies of "Vision IV: Illumination", and the rawness and graven atmosphere of "Vision VII: One with the Soil". Their work is pretty good, indeed.