Valkyrian Music

Pitch Black Process
Derin
Melodic Death Metal
Released via EMP Label Group
3th December 2016

I’m not too familiar with the Turkish metal scene. This is actually only the second band that I’ve come across which hails from that country. Pitch Black Process has an unusual style that doesn’t make their music any less intriguing. They were originally formed back in 1999 under the name of Affliction and they released two albums before changing the name to Pitch Black Process in 2011. This is their second album under the new name.

I have to be honest in that I was a little hesitant to review this album after steaming a few tracks from their debut ‘Hand of God?’. That album is a bit of an acquired taste as its still firmly rooted in metalcore music with only a few nods leaning towards the more refined melodeath direction. Luckily their latest piece of work marks an improvement in the overall style and quality. It seems that Pitch Black Process have evolved into a melodic death metal band, incorporating elements of the classic “Gothenburg-style” and adding their own unique touches.

This album can essentially be split into two parts; a) standard melodeath (songs number 1-4) and b) Pitch Black Process’s own take on the genre with a national flavor (from ‘Halil Ibrahim Sofrasi’ up until the end of the album). I mean, let’s face it we all know what your typical melodic death metal band sounds like. If I want to hear yet another wannabe In Flames, Catamenia, <insert name of a famous melo-death metal band here>, there’s no shortage of places to look. Pitch Black Process offers you something different. The songs that stand out on here are the ones featuring vocals sang in Turkish. Their metalized cover of Barış Manço’s Halil Ibrahim Sofrasi is my personal favourite. I really like the mixture of a traditional folk instrument with heavy metal guitars and drums as well as the singing in Turkish. It’s a rare case of a song that combines the best of both genres maintaining the delicate balance between melody and aggression. Toy Soldier – Oyuncak Asker also caught my attention thanks to the bilingual vocals, mixing English and Turkish to produce a memorable piece of melodic death metal. Similar things can be said about the slightly more aggressive yet still very catchy-sounding closing track Eskiya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz.

Overall, the songs that really stand out on ‘Derin’ are the ones where the band is singing in their native tongue. It feels like there is a lot more emotion put into the Turkish lyrics than there is in the English ones. This is the main thing that sets Pitch Black Process apart from other melodic death metal bands and I would like to hear more of it.

3.5/5

Iza Raittila

This entry was posted on 18th December 2016 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Melodic death metal, Turkey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.