THE BEAST

Silenced Minstrel - Seven of Swords - Reviewed By occultblackmetalzine ! Check it out https://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/search?q=Silenced+Minstrel+-+Seven+of+Swords

  Malaysia's  Silenced  Minstrel  has  returned  with  a  new  recording  which  shows  the  music  going  for  an  old  school  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2023  album  "Seven  of  Swords".

  Horror  movie  style  keyboards  start  off  the  album  while  also  introducing  spoken  word  parts  onto  the  album  before  going  into  a  heavier  direction.  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized  they  are  also  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  angry  sounding  black  metal  screams.

  When  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats  can  be  heard  which  also  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling.  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  the  music  also  being  very  heavily  rooted  in t he  90's  Norwegian  style,  a  couple  of  songs  also  adds  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  playing  and  at  times  the  vocals  also  add  in  more  of  a  first  wave  black  metal  style

  On  this  recording  Silenced  Minstrel  goes  for  more  of  a  90's  style  of  black  metal  that  shows  a  lot  of  Nordic  influences  but  mixed  in  with  a  very  different  vocal  approach  which  makes  the  music  stand  out  more.  The  production  sounds  very  raw  and  old  school  while  the  lyrics  cover  Satanism,  Occultism,  Darkness  and  Evil  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Silenced  Minstrel  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  black  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Demonic  Oblation  (Shattered  Reality)"  "A  Brief  Moment  Of  Absolute  Darkness"  and  "Online  Satanic  Communion".  8  out  of  10. occultblackmetalzine  

Release Date: August 10th 2023

Genre Description: Black Metal

FFO: Windir, Mayhem

Location: Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Silenced Minstrel is a black metal band from Malaysia that came into existence in 2016. The band is an offshoot of HALUN, a gothic black metal band from Muar, Johor. The band was formed by Void Tenebrous, who did all the writing and producing, mostly in his bedroom studio nicknamed Sky Panacea Enterprise. In 2022, Gentayangan, one of HALUNs former drummers, joined the band. Together, they had jammed in their towns only jamming studio since HALUNs inception back in 1996. 

The band's seventh album, Seven of Swords, was released on August 10th, 2023. It demonstrates a vast departure from the band's original experimental phase and adopts the current style of 90's Norwegian Black Metal. The duo's common obsession for Windir inspired the new sound. 

Silenced Minstrel is currently unsigned and is seeking exposure, a recording contract and developing fanbases all across the globe. Fans of black metal should definitely check out this new band from Malaysia.

Follow the band at these links:

https://www.facebook.com/SilencedMinstrel
http://www.twitter.com/SilencedMinstr1 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqCp_xPAXg-9bljJguBa3hQ?view_as=subscriber
https://silencedminstrel.bandcamp.com