Things don’t get much bleaker than industrial black metal. So, if you’re looking for something uplifting, you might want to pass on this one. I don’t know whether this really is, as the blurb claims, “the most extreme (…) record you’ll hear all year – or perhaps all decade”. I’m not a fan of claims like that anyway. But the album at hand is certainly nothing to have a lie-down to.
Swedes Horde of Hel let you know straight from the beginning that they mean business. There is no intro except from a few words in Swedish; there is nothing that prepares you for what is to come, nothing to soften the blow. The drumming assault that is Blodets Morgon, the album’s first track, is brutal and merciless. The drums sound like a jackhammer at work, and that sound, apparently reaching up to 500 BPM (again, says the blurb), will stay with you throughout the album. It is its most prominent element. Nothing for the faint of heart.
But luckily Döden Nalkas (Eng.: death is approaching), the band’s third album, offers more than what I just described. From track three onward the sound expands, takes unexpected routes and reaches unanticipated destinations. The album’s ten tracks are a more diverse listening experience than what they initially seem.
While Death Division Status is a continuation of Blodets Morgon, with growled, barked and distorted vocals accompanying the relentless drumming, Visdomen kallas döden already allows you to catch your breath. Ambient sounds and a slower tempo bring a welcome break and something like medieval chanting going on in the background adds an interesting detail. Things continue slightly less intense with Standard Nordland, and Totalitarian Regime, going a bit black and roll, is probably the album’s most approachable song. However, just when you think that things might after all take a more conventional turn, there is the experimental soundscape of Total Death, created mostly from scratching and distortion sounds. I really did not see this one coming.
After the surprising middle part, the album gets back on track and until the very end there are no great sound deviations anymore. Döden Nalkas closes with Of Eternity and Ruins, its slowest song, displaying another side of the band, transmitting a bit of pomp, melancholia and sorrow through soaring, melodic guitars.
Repeated listens will have a desensitising effect and the relentless drumming won’t be as mind-numbing as it seemed in the beginning. Still, I can’t imagine that this is something you will want to listen to often. But it might come in handy, if you want to terrorize the neighbours.
(7.5/10 Slavica)
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