Doing a trawl through the internet yielded very little as to who is actually in this Swedish band as this debut full length ticks plenty of boxes for me. All of the three tracks on the debut EP have ended up on this first album. ‘Dvala’ is a fine affair and betrays the translation of the album title which I believe may mean dormancy or hibernation. There is nothing dormant or sleepy about his album, and whilst you will have heard myriad releases all sounding similar to this there is something about this album that goes beyond the sum of its parts.
Opening with ‘Blinding’ the bands black metal ethos is steeped in the 90s shroud we all loved about the genre, but feathering the album is a keyboard hue, subtly placed enhancing the songs and even catapulting them into realms of majesty. What I really liked about this album was its ability to transfix, hypnotise to some degree due to its continual repetition, favouring that approach over constant time changes, which makes the songs that more intense. I’ll admit that the first couple of songs on this release passed me by, but further exploration has proved fruitful as the opening doublet, completed with ‘Sister Of Night’ paves an obsidian path towards the epic construction of ‘Death’. At seven minutes plus that ability to mesmerise is delivered through the catchy riffing as I felt the album had hints of Norway’s Ancient running through it. Again, that repetition really focuses your attention, it’s like a narcotic, piercing you with its transfixing nature.
With some background noises, ‘No Signal’ continues the album as the gradual increasing loudness gives the song impetus before morphing gently into a fine melodic guitar riff deluged with atmosphere as I really enjoyed this instrumental tune. ‘All The Way Down’ returns the album to frosty black metal, high energy glacial riffing complemented by the croaking groaning vocal style and whilst you’ll definitely hear much more aggressive black metal there is still that aura of penetrating malevolence coursing through it.
Equally addictive is ‘Father’ which starts a trio of tunes that conclude the album, as the mid-tempo pacing gives the song melody but always retaining power as ‘Mythe’ follows and continues the tactic. I appreciated the piano touch here, adding a sombre veil to the song’s atmosphere before the release ends with the title track. As an extended outro piece, the title track displays powerful atmospherics again, with a dread like rumble permeating the mix alongside the background noises and ambience.
An absorbing album from Mondocane, one reaping the benefits of subtle keyboards, delicate atmosphere and caustic raw black metal. Well worth checking out.
(8.5./10 Martin Harris)
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