Høstsol - L​ä​nge leve dö​den (2023) Review

Supergroups can be a hit or miss and more often that we would like to admit, the levels of excitement when looking at a project’s line up doesn’t match the quality of the material itself. That was not the case for me with Høstsol, a Scandinavian band featuring some legendary figures from the black metal scene: Niklas Kvarforth of Shining, Cernunnus of Manes and Kalmos of Ajattara.

With Länge Leve Döden, the musicians write a love letter to the ways of the genre as it existed back in the early 90’s around their areas, but more than that is achieved. The production (mastered by Andy LaRocque of King Diamond) is clear and slightly more modern, there are sparse ambient interludes bridging different parts of tracks and the compositions clearly bear the mark of their creators, especially the exquisite style of Cernunnus. The band doesn’t leave any space for misinterpretation about the kind of nostalgia they evoke, for example with the second  and best track “Det som en gång var (det kommer aldrig igen)”, a clear reference to the early Burzum album title with an extra addition: “it will never come again”.

Kvarforth’s vocals have a slightly higher pitch, more shrieked and painful than the anger-infused singing he does for Shining, and it works perfectly in the album. It consists of five tracks, and some slower-paced, emotive lines can be found in its opening and closing, while for the most of it, Länge Leve Döden is fast but doesn’t abuse tremolo picking. If you are a fan of the early works of Manes and bands of that time like Thorns, then the authenticity and acuteness of this release will move you. It is the perfect combination of all the aforementioned bands, executed by members of the scene that have been around from the first days and even 30 years later, it seems they are no short of inspiration. 

Points that you will love in Länge Leve Döden are the magnificent guitar riffs, the excellent vocals, the ambient passages and the amount of sentiment it is charged with, with a rather simple title statement that is also aligned with the roots of black metal: long live death.

DAMAGE: 3.75/5

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Vosbúð - Heklugjá (2023) Review

Sometimes an album’s formed perception benefits from the surroundings of the listener, or the conditions of the listening experience. Being the first (at least, to my knowledge) band to introduce the term “volcanic black metal”, Vosbúð from Iceland deliver their / his first full length album Heklugjá after a vigorous but potentially glossed over EP in 2019, setting the mark in the project’s journey for good. 

Thematics are described perfectly by the band’s self-genre assertion, and don’t let your mind rush to conclusions when it comes to the music, especially when knowing their roots. Heklugjá takes a stand for atmospheric black metal with dusty production, partially originating from the United States but with a firm personal touch and plenty of creative material in its long compositions. That is also the only drawback of the record, as its lengthy duration sometimes feels unnecessary, especially in moments when the tracks get a bit repetitive, not confident enough to affix the next idea. 

Fortunately, this is mostly clear only through the third and fourth piece, where almost exhilarated melodies lay hints of modern / post-black metal bands from the US and despite that, the flow of the album is at least maintained through this rocky path. A couple of songs are really long and packed with material, especially the opener “Myndhöggvari lífsins og dauðans” at 17 minutes, and the closing piece “Heklugjá” at the same length. Vosbúð’s ingenuity is boastful in these pieces and the album has potent messages as a whole, depicting a rather ambitious atmospheric black metal release that only slightly shakes due to it’s own weight. 

One hour might be too much to not build the urge to fast forward a bit, however Vosbúð do now shy away from epicness or high quality guitar lines, wonderful bass sound and a production to go along with its subject. There is no one fitting more to speak of volcanoes than an Icelandic band, and Heklugjá is a fine debut, imperfect at some intricacies and yet melded with passion.

DAMAGE: [3.25/5]

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Albums of the Year 2022

"Aye", the eldest of the owls answers softly. "They are still glittering in the night of those who tread the path of solar solitude. To the rest - to the flock - they are already dead and all but forgotten."

- Lines from The Long Defeat.

A realm at the edge of sanity - Interview with Elminster / Ithildin Tape Production

I was already a few years in the blog cosmos when the first posts of Andrew Werdna surfaced on his now historic website, describing a certain style of dark / fantasy ambient with forlorn medieval aesthetics and initially coining the term "dungeon synth". The genre, initially loosely consisting of side projects of musicians of the second wave of black metal, has undergone a time period of rebirth and reform the last 10 years, with more and more projects and dedicated labels coming up and honouring the forgotten art of the cassette tape. And if you've followed this micro scene even a little bit lately, the name Elminster will surely ring a bell. Restless and with seemingly unceasing inspiration, an abundance of projects are maintained almost solely by one musician, Maeglin Aumar, all at the same time, releasing material quite often and a lot throughout the year, while maintaining his own tape label Ithildin Tape Production too. Under different monikers, he experiments with a wide array of musical templates, spanning from dark ambient, to dusty hip hop, to dungeon synth, to raw black metal, and all over again. Elminster agreed to a discussion that includes an extensive description of his artistic presence, his motives, insight on past releases and a glimpse into the future.

 

Autophagy - Bacteriophage (2022) Review

Experienced members in the modern sludge / doom / death metal scene comprise Portland's Autophagy, who caught the attention back in 2018 with an initial, quite solid first demo release. In the form of Bacteriophage, the band presents a concise debut full length album with a simplistic but effective formula: Swedish death'n'roll and old school death metal, with some doom metal touches, all drenched in down-tuned, grisly sound directly from the swamps only meant to disgust you. The magnificent cover art was catered by Brazilian designer Marcio Blasphemator, it immediately catches the eye and thankfully the material inside doesn't disappoint. Again, Bacteriophage doesn't overstep its own boundaries, so after a couple of tracks, you know what you're in for. Wonderful hidden guitar solos arise here and there (for example in "Beneath the Moss, Between the Roots") but for the most part, the whole record is one giant groove with a handful of faster and even less slower parts, but at least executed quite adequately. Doom / death metal glory resides in the self-titled track and the latter part of "Sacrificial Spawn, which also includes speedier tempos as in "Eviscerated Remains", "Abhorrent Abomination" and "Dawn of the Endless Plague". Tunes like "Return to the Charnal Hall" sit comfortably sit in what basically is pure death'n'roll, and "Becoming" has a little bit of everything, which actually is the case for all the tracks in Bacteriophage, and points out their tolerance in combining these few elements that make up the record. I was never overwhelmed by massive musical insight when listening to this, but all the tracks maintain a certain level of ugliness that is always admirable in death metal and its own kind of beauty, which I think shines with Autophagy and their neat debut. Hats off to the deep growls of the singer as well, who never dared to exit the cave when recording these vocals, and why would he. [3.5/5 - Great]