I had until now not heard of this trio from Germany so had absolutely no idea of what to expect. Of course, you already know that you can always rely on Northern Silence Productions to unearth some obscure black metal bands from somewhere. At first listen, Kerbenok’s composers / musicians looked like a typical old school Pagan black metal band from that country (the inclusion of some soft passages remind me the first releases of their land-mates of Empyrium or Autumnblaze). There are a wide variety of influences from straight Norwegian black metal to the more Pagan German acts mentioned here above. For a large part of this three songer, there is quality black metal music which mixes very well with the occult concept of the whole product but on the other side, I get the feeling that some parts are simply too long and the overall impact should have greatly benefit from a shortening of some passages. It’s sometimes uselessly too long and too repetitive. Kerbenok may not already be groundbreaking (if you compare with the label other productions) but while «Der Erde Entwachsen (Gewollte Wunden)» is not immediately accessible and shows room for improvement, the band is definitely on the right track.
Patricia

kerbenok@gmx.de

http://www.kerbenok.net

http://northern-silence.de