Vehemency
On ”Night of the Unholy Flames”, Clandestine Blaze continues its path in simple, monotonous, lo-fi black metal, but when compared to the previous album ”Fire Burns in Our Hearts”, the sound is now fuller and there’s slightly more variation between songs.
For example, ”Cross of Black Steel” introduces doom metal elements to Clandestine Blaze’s sound, which is something that appears later on almost every CB release. This is also the album where Aspa’s trademark low growls are introduced more clearly than on the debut which still included higher pitched screams. ”Aikakausi On Lyhyt”, one of the highlight songs, is sung entirely in Finnish which works really nice, and it’s a shame it’s the only Finnish CB song as far as I’m aware.
Otherwise there aren’t any clear differences: the sound is really grey and monotonous with repetitive drum patterns and no real dynamics - and this should be considered as a compliment, because Clandestine Blaze does it rather well. ”Night of the Unholy Flames” evokes images of reeking, dirty sewers and bleak, hopeless landscapes. There are times when ”Night of the Unholy Flames” does sound a bit too dragging (”Invisible Death”), but it is compensated by the last tracks of the album which are of high quality, and all in all there isn’t a bad track on the album.