These Scandinavian purveyors of blackness have released a perplexing and intriguing debut of black metal that has tantalising tendrils of terror suckered to ambient like passages of more softer darkened art. The tone is bleak, barren within the guitar sound as the drums pummel in the background with little focus. Without accessorising the song comes across as old school, with tempo shifts aplenty and throat shredding vocals from the moment the album starts with “Solkronan”. Contrasting to the opener is “Kosmos Pulsådra” with its genteel beginning of keyboards creating a spacey and sci-fi like atmosphere captured by the likes of Burzum and Drudkh. Whilst not funereal in approach, the song is slow, passionless psychedelics within despondent emotion.
Bridging to the fourth tune is the acoustic piece of “Nyckeln Till Livskraftens Ursprung” a rather sweet piece of music showcasing the bands creative intelligence and diversity before returning to spartan savagery on “Alyr” where pagan like vocal chants are joined to throat sawing nihilism. Again Drudkh pops up on my radar for the sheer emotive paganistic spite. The addition of subtle embellishments via effects and keyboards add depth and character shading to the album with textures of grey “Skymningsdrömmar” which has whispered voices linked to piano work that is like Dimmu Borgir’s “Sorgens Kammer” or Ancient’s “Fjellets Hemmelighet” towards its middle section. As I listened to this the first time, the song was compounded in its effect by the howling wind outside my abode, it worked a treat and captured the blackened iced soul of the tune which flows neatly into “Brunnakrar” that possesses a Satyricon like feel to its tempo and riff style.
Definitely on the Burzum side of experimentation is “Stjärnkartans Väv”, a keyboard infused track that inauspiciously reeks of 70s and 80s sci-fi B movie sound tracks, futuristic to the point of parody it listens with consummate ease and even if it’s a little cheesy I enjoyed it immensely leaving only the epic title track to close with some furious intently maligned blackness as here as before the drums are hidden within the mix, but appropriately so. With focussed repetition the track is highly emphasised and drills subtle engrams that implant into the mind, much like this album does overall and whilst not overly ambitious or innovative it is a very good listen indeed.
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(7.5/10 Martin Harris)
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