Do you like your black metal polished and symphonic with lots of keyboards and tunes you can sing along to in the car? If so, I suggest you look elsewhere as Finland’s Vonülfsrëich deliver nasty, gnarly low fi black metal that is straight from the 90s underground. I don’t say this in a negative way, rather to let you know what to expect!
This two piece outfit have been spewing out their art for ten years or so and have previously delivered numerous EPs as well as two full lengths, and this is now followed up with the latest offering ‘Miasmal Winds’. Whereas the previous album ‘Ragnarök Rising’ was set across four tracks, with two of them clocking in at over fourteen and twenty minutes each, Vonülfsrëich have gone for a more direct approach here with seven tracks totalling only 32 minutes, meaning the album is more direct and in many ways more aggressive than its predecessor, being broken up only by ‘Towards the Horns of Frost’ which provides some brief respite from the icy pummelling of the rest of the album with a depressing dark synth passage.
The sound on ‘Miasmal Winds’ is raw to say the least – it is harsh, caustic, abrasive and at times even grating but it works well creating an air of jeopardy and even agitation. There are times when there are punk or thrash elements evident such as on ‘Trolls and Witches Bleeding Before Their Master’ but the album is undeniably black metal and is not for the faint hearted. So if you yearn for the 90s when black metal was dangerous, unpredictable (and raw!), then make sure you get your hands on this. If you like things a little more refined, then perhaps look elsewhere.
(7/10 Andy Pountney)
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