SVARTE SKOGER

"Svarte Skoger" is a compilation album by Norwegian black metal act Manes which was released in 2006 by Kyrck Productions. The original version was limited to 1000 copies. The album consists of all tracks from the three demo cassette tapes by Manes: "Maanens Natt (1993)", "Ned i Stillheten (1994)" and "Til Kongens Grav de Døde Vandrer (1995)". In addition to the demo tracks there are also two pre-Manes tracks included on "Svarte Skoger". A track from 1991 by Perifa and one track from 1992 by Obscuro. Perifa changed name to Obscuro and that band changed name to Manes.

The music on this compilation album is old school Norwegian black metal. There´s a very noisy and muddy lo-fi sound quality on all tracks on the compilation, which probably makes "Svarte Skoger" hard to appreciate for anyone but the most hardcore old school black metal fan. Personally I can appreciate raw and filthy sound productions but the sound quality on these tracks is beyond what is tolerable. I simply draw the line when I can´t hear what´s going on even when I really concentrate.

After listening through the three demos which are all of pretty low quality we´re then treated to two even more badly produced and lo-fi tracks by the pre-Manes bands Perifa and Obscuro.

I´m probably not the right person to review this compilation because I can´t find one positive thing to say about it. Maybe hardcore fans of old school Norwegian black metal can find the charm here but it´s completely lost on me. A 1 star (20%) rating is warranted and I´m being nice.