Tilintetgjort are a new Norwegian black metal band from Oslo and this here is their debut album. A few brief moments of listening online before getting the album gave the impression that it was, potentially…er…nuts. So ‘Kvikksolvdrommer’ beginning with a distorted humm of bass, some white noise and a buzzing insectile guitar sound was not a surprise. It kicks into gear with an insistent riff and some clean vocals before descending into the snarl and snap and riff that leaves you slightly off balance with its jarring sound. A good thing by the way. ‘Sannhetens Soyler’ pretty much follows that seven-minute opener in pace and tempo changes and the excellent vocals dragging you into darker places and pulling you through some slightly chaotic passages. Again; chaos is good.

‘Mercurial’ is perhaps where I begin to have a few qualms: It follows the set out template a little too much again. The thin guitar notes playing a strange, almost clashing melody over the top, the more dense passages that rumble and the buzzing that lends the whole affair an almost pseudo-industrial feel; it reminds just a little of DHG or Blut Aus Nord at their more idiosyncratic, perhaps a tiny bit of Fleurety but despite the constant shifting of discordant notes meandering into odd areas as the riff drives forward it doesn’t… well it doesn’t really take me anywhere. I’m listening to this technical musical canvas but I’m trapped on the outside.

‘Vinter Og Host’ does push the musical envelope even more; the semi-industrial opening of racket and clatter trying to morph into a shape that is nicely dark and with some deep, clean vocals. This is much better; ominous, weirdly eerie. Discordant guitar break and trilling runs that collapse into howls and noise. ‘Hex’ is almost a companion piece, a short two-minute bridge of layered chanting and throat singing style noises before storming into a heads down, drilling riff. Until….

‘Dommedagsmonument’. Twenty one-minutes with a ponderous opening, split into three segments in the CD booklet but one long single piece musically. It’s a huge undertaking for a debut album and it fits together nicely. If you’re waiting for the ‘but’ then here it is….There is nothing wrong with this at all, not even its length, but rather like the rest of the album I find little to enthral me I’m afraid. It’s a little like they haven’t committed to either the chaos it flirts with, or the raw black metal that it keeps coming back to. It’s a little weird for raw black metal but not enough to be completely ‘out there’. The last track is most definitely the best for me, the most interesting and I think gives a good pointer to the intent of the band and hopefully future endeavours. Tilintetgjort certainly are not a band who seek to take the easy well-travelled path, and they need to be both commended and encouraged to continue their exploration and developments

At the moment though I’ll sit on the fence and see what happens with this curious band next.

(6/10 Gizmo)

https://www.facebook.com/tilintetgjortnor

https://tilintetgjort.bandcamp.com/album/in-death-i-shall-arise