It’s rare that I reach these levels of excitement about a pagan black metal release – in the same way as I did when I first heard all those early Kampfar, Falkenbach and Forefather releases. It’s not that I’m jaded by any means. But it’s a pretty well stocked stable these days and its more recent proponents have quite rightly been shifting towards a sound that becoming ever more complex and progressive as time goes by – bands like Fen, Wodensthrone and Winterfylleth to name but a few of the current British stock. So whereas the trend for pagan masses, as least among bands worth listening to, has been developing into more sharply creative directions there are a couple of bands recently which have caught my eye for their more straightforward infectious reflections on Europe’s bleak and mist-veiled past. Last month I came across the last two releases by Canadian black metal band Paths, perhaps moving to a more contemplative pastures in their more recent release, and now the British strike back with another fine offering that’s sure to keep those hearts warmed through the lingering winter chill.
We’re not talking humpa Finntroll or the party chanting of Týr or Heidevolk here – this is pure atmospheric black metal with a searing slice of tremolo riffage that drifts across the sharp, biting wind of whatever moorland of forest realm you can imagine standing watch over. Atmospheric with the emphasis on ominous, shrill guitar melodies that will put the hairs on your neck on end. Crom Dubh’s first full-length Heimweh is a classic slice of bleakly melodic black metal that takes us right back to the foggy fuzz and simplicity of those early Viking metal and pagan releases. Heimweh stands up very well next to its aforementioned British peers even though, if you cut away all the undergrowth of distortion, this is obviously less complex in structure and more unabashedly bearing the standard of catchiness that lands like a red hot sword on the anvil. But addictive hooks are not something that’s ever been a particular drawback in this genre – Falkenbach being the prime example of that – and certainly isn’t a drawback here.
From the outset, with its wind-scarred intro and the nice flick-of-the-switch change in melody and ferocity at the end of the first proper track Cutting Teeth II, it’s clear that Crom Dubh have arrived to this battle with their blades fully sharpened. A very rounded first album indeed and, production wise at least, strides ahead of their more impenetrable and grainy EP Deifr in 2010. In fact, Heinweh barely stops for breath in its relentless march. Across the bloody and heartbreaking battlefields of The Invulnerable Tide, a track which could easily be an ode to classic Falkenbach, and onwards into the dreamy intensity of Sedition, which screams Nokturnal Mortum’s Voice of Steel from beginning to end. The icily delivered title track is the only five minutes that seems to fall short of hauling your pagan spirit out of your body and presenting it before you ready for a wild ride and complete with wolf-skin and horned helmet. Then, the final ultra melodic blast of Sailing to Byzantium leaves you wondering why no-one warned you these guys were coming. Well arguably there have been at least some warnings – the band has been revealing glimpses of this album, recorded originally back in 2013, in the darker recesses of north London’s live music venues for the past couple of years. And guitarist and vocalist S Vrath is also one third of Craven Idol – as ‘Immolator of Sadistik Wrath’. But, still, this album lands like a ton of blackened steel.
So if you have found yourself casting about recently looking for a return to the glory days of pagan black metal – or at least something fresh and bold enough to feel like they never went away – then you need look no further. And with six tracks proper and three atmospheric interludes it’s good too to see that Crom Dubh resisted the temptation to stretch this out for what, judging by this, could have been an even longer outpouring of this bands creative spirit. The final track leaves you bloody-nosed and hankering for more. And that’s how it should be. This is a rousing blast of melodic black metal that will serve Crom Dubh well as a black blood-stained flag in the soil. Exhilarating.
(8.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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