Turulver - Turulver (2003)

This is competent mid-paced black metal from Hungary. The bass work is pretty nice and the production is very good. Actually the songs are pretty good too, but this isn't really progressive or groundbreaking in any sense. Still, I found this somewhat enjoyable as it wore on. It's a quality product and has enough variability to keep it from the Marduk/Dark Funeral camp of complete drudgery. It also helps that the songs are short -- the longest is 4:39. And with an intro and an outro, this is only five songs lasting 23:15. It's still not a must-download, but fans of black metal could do much, much worse. Then again, if you're a fan of black metal, you have something like this already in your collection.

The band have made this EP and their follow-up full length freely available from their website.