A new force in the Norse BM scene but not one without pedigree considering it is made up of Cernunnus (Manii/Manes), Levninger (Knokkelklang) and V. Einride (Whoredom Rife). This three-track album was originally released on limited cassette with just 100 copies being made available by Cloven Hoof brewing and releasing. No doubt a few glasses were raised in the process. Luckily Terratur Possessions have seen fit to make it more widely available and it certainly deserves to be. This is no short venture either so don’t be put off by the fact there are only a few tracks as it weighs in at 35 minutes. I wasn’t sure what it was going to sound like considering recent Manes have travelled down much more progressive routes from their origins whilst Whoredom Rife have kept things more traditionally focussed but if you are looking authenticity, you will certainly find it here.
‘Atter igjen kommer mørket krypende’ translates to ‘And Then The Darkness Comes Creeping’ and that is very apt as far as this lengthy first cut is concerned. It creeps and is suitably creepy. At first it is ambient with a low hum building up atmosphere before a guitar cuts in proffering palpable melody. There’s no huge rush here and it seems stealth is very much the way ahead as this horror-show broods, hoary vocals with graveyard dirt clinging to them eventually joining in. Levninger and his act Knokkelklang are the unknown quantity to me but his vocals fit in to the stygian gloom of the melody perfectly. Finally, everything drops in and we get the main force of the track, it is explosive and embittered as it romps away the growls wailing and moaning like a banshee in the background. One thing is certain, having crept up on the listener this certainly bites hard. There’s also quite a sense of orthodoxy about it all even though there are subtle keyboards making it all the more diabolic and macabre. Having closed the drapes with more ambience and having got a speedy flurry done with Syning settle back on the rest of the release and deliver things at a more solemn and funerary tone ‘Et siste skrik’ (‘One Last Cry’) oozes in like cemetery fog, the beastly vocals howling ghoulishly, its really unsettling and with organ tones in the background and a Burzumic repetitive guitar fuzz unwinds slowly with huge sense of character. ‘Fortapt’ (Lost) is the closing piece of this grotesque triptych, water seems to be flowing, the hum is reverberating and one wonders if we are below the earth in a mausoleum invaded by a stream getting beneath the layers of earth and washing bones clean. An acoustic guitar presents loss and abandonment the vocals are low in the background and the beauty of decay hangs in the rotten air. This is a timeless place gradually being eroded and forgotten left with the ghosts of past civilisations to echo and haunt.
This is a really strong opening statement from Syning and one that hopefully they will build upon in the future. It made me shiver as it coldly touched with a feeling like it had truly been etched from beyond the grave. True morbid funeral art.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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