압록 - Discography (2026) (Upconvert)

   My first black metal from North Korea...

... was curious, had to try some, with no idea what to expect going in. As it turns out, of course these Koreans can make black metal as well (or not well, whichever the case may be) as anyone.

I have no iea what they're saying in the lyrics, and may never know, but for me and likely many others around here, this sentiment applies to a lot of music we enjoy, from a lot of places. But as "they" say among other things, the music is the universal language, not the lyrics. There's music sung in English which I can't understand, so it's fine.

In my opinion, the music is decent. I'm currently listening for the second time, as I got waylaid somewhere during the first attempt. Sound quality is decent too; the music is, on average, relatively heavy - possibly (for me) almost qualifying as heavy atmospheric - but it's definitely black metal, with solid drumming and other fairly typical-sounding black metal instruments; I heard very little Asian or "oriental" sound in this music.

Track titles reference well known landmarks in/of both South and North Korea; also, mythology surrounding the Taebaek mountain range in S. Korea. There are references to what one might imagine is the general state of being of many North Korean citizens, such as oppressed, abused, and isolated. And there is hatred - of whom or of what, I can't say. But I wonder if (some or all of) these musicians are NK defectors; it could explain the SK references. Or maybe they refer to things more historical - meaningful to all Koreans - from before Korea became divided.

To my very limited knowledge & understanding of N. Korea, I would think it somewhat difficult, though not impossible, to export music from that country, especially if the music is in any way critical of the leadership. I'm interested in any comments on this music, forthcoming from Korean members of MT; you could absolutely give a better analysis of it than I can.

Thanks Stormhatt, I appreciate the opportunity to hear metal from yet another distant & mysterious corner of the world, from which we rarely hear anything at all. I'll listen to this again.