I've always been fascinated by the extreme metal bands that carry the topics of politics and philosophy between the riffs, such topics need a real inspiration and visions, but the Norwegian DROTTNAR has crossed the limits by shaping the Black Metal music into a high level of technical performance, letting you and any Metal fan enjoy the vehemence and intensity of every single riff. Norway has always presented the best Black Metal records since the creation of the second wave of Black Metal, and here is Norway is proving that even the second wave is not enough for such talented Metal artists.

Stratum is the second full-length album for DROTTNAR, and it was a real leap in the music of the band and it showed the ultimate professionalism of the members. There is a war in the head of every human, and here is this record is shaping these wars and creates a technical way of guitar licks and shreds and merges them into a black metal drumming. The insane Black Metal vocals that reminded me of the 90s Norwegian Black Metal era and the influences of IHSAHN and EMPEROR are the main musical themes of this record, so if you wish to hear an original Black Metal record full of visions and classic touches, then you have to get your copy of this record now from Endtime Productions.

Once I watched the music video of the track, I understood why the band calls their musical genre "Bunker Metal", the influences of the military forces and the war visions are totally covering the performance and the shades of the music. I've always been a fan of the Norwegian V:28, I am really glad that DROTTNAR has the same influences of V:28 and this makes me so excited to discover the tracks of the album and listen to every single track carefully. So it's a progressive bombing way of technical eight airstrikes, every airstrike (track) is composed and performed in a way that can fill your room with bullets and destruction, and though the album wasn't really long, this gives you the chance to inhale every burning track perfectly.

There are a lot of tracks to recommend here, such as "Soul Suburbia", "Ersatz" and "Wolves and Lambs", but I will recommend the track "We March" for the listeners who don't know what the hell is going on in this record. In my opinion, you cannot beat the rage of these members, every single moment of this record is performed enough to crash your skulls and to deafen your existence, I will be waiting more release of these guys and I believe that Stratum was one of the best black metal albums of 2012 without any doubt.