I had the unfortunate timing to hear The Principle of Cosmic Instability while in my car after listening to something on pretty loud volume. The sound that came out of the speakers was painful. Good thing I held onto the wheel with two hands, as Torch of War unleashes pure audiotorture slicing the eardrums with so overly shrill and piercing guitars the rest of the music may not even need to have been written.

I am all for lo-fi black metal production as much as the next guy. There is absolutely something wrong with music called upon to express the person’s most inner feelings to be produced in a sterile environment on a cushy budget. I wonder, however, if Torch of War ran the eight tracks which compose The Principle of Cosmic Instability by anybody, and if that anybody, if he/she was not totally deaf, gave an approving opinion that the stuff here is really listenable. It is one thing to be raw, but it is totally over the top when you can be physically injuring yourself if experiencing this album under wrong circumstances. Germanic War Black Metal is supposed to be bruising, but one has to be able to listen to it all the way through to feel the impact. Taking it all in, multiple listens of this album, etc. weren’t something that appealed to me in the least.

One neverending buzzsaw with the setting cranked to the max is what The Principle of Cosmic Instability sounds like. And it is not the buzzsaw which will slowly hypnotize you, eventually bringing on the trance. This is some of the worst kind you will find in the rundown hardware store, on clearance sale, the one that simply makes one level of noise, with or without cutting through any material. Not that the vocals would be of essence here, but Torch of War stuffs them deep. Bass – non-existent. Drums – whatever the blasting, D-beating, punk infused Darkthrony patterns are invoked, you only hear feeble clapping. Melody and riffs flow? If any of it is here (Wolf Among Sheep), an almost concerted effort is made to bury it under the wall of trilly and scathing guitar. You can’t listen to it loud, as mentioned above, for the risk your ears will bleed and you will have a day ruining headache, and you can’t listen to it quiet, as you wouldn’t be able to hear much, except the buzzsaw turning to hiss.

Torch of War is the effort of one German F. Nachzehrer, the person behind a few other one-man black, occult and underground projects (Mensch Schmerz Interaktion, Moriturus/Regnum, Vexillum, Weltenkampf). Maybe if F. Nachzehrer’s attention was more focused, The Principle of Cosmic Instability would have been afforded a better production? That will remain a mystery, but if you are trying to communicate your ideas to the world, a more intelligible pathway will certainly garner more listeners paying attention.

I could be completely and totally off my rocker here, so here is the challenge. If any of you black metal kvlt aficionados are interested, drop me a line, I will gladly mail you the album, postage covered, you will form your own opinion and a rebuttal will be posted.