This Swedish duo are certainly looking to be a productive one, having released an album less than a year ago, and already working on the next one. Prior to that they made two more full lengths but they appear to have never seen the light of day – I’m not quite sure why. This album doesn’t really do anything that hasn’t been heard before, although fans of nature inspired black metal with post-rock influences will surely find lots to like here.
‘En Ensam Sol Gar Ner,’ or track one if that seems a bit of a gobful, gets off to a highly promising start, with a fierce swagger that storms ahead while the crepuscular, fairy-like keyboards add a layer of mysticism. The melody here is almost like a sped up death march that dances around in the mix, and in fact this album has its share of intriguing melodies. ‘Arvssynd’ blasts straight in with a full-on blackened assault which soon gives way for a more reflective, moody passage. The vocals are a truly tortured rasp, or to the uninitiated as one person put to me, “whiny emo black metal vocals.” There is certainly plenty of emotion behind them, put it that way, although it has sod all to do with some floppy fringed fop crying about how his chubby scenester girlfriend dumped him.
‘Drapsnatt’ brings a subtle folk infusion to the table, mixed in with a hardy rhythm section that brings the troops into battle. Things are kept interesting though as this segues into a quieter, calmer section before a jaunty flute comes springing out from below, and the clean vocal lines toward the end give it a hey-nonny-nonny sing song vibe. The clean vocals carry on into the next track, ‘Mannen I Min Spegel,’ laying a forlorn affliction over a slow paced melody. I like the jangly, reflective guitars on this one which add depth between the more full on blackened blasts and there’s a really lovely sense of melancholy to this one with its rich, pine-scented melody. ‘Somna In’ has a dark, brooding intro laced with a true sense of mystique – the keyboards are particularly haunting, and as the track progresses the guitars lay a velveteen foundation which is built upon as the drums join in and a more angular guitar and eventually some clean vocals which sound incredibly enchanting and I’m reminded a little of Solstafir on this track.
The album has a rather nice flow to it, with plenty of reflective passages and some sinister sounding keyboards, mixed in to an overall naturesque harshness. There’s plenty of variation on this album, it’s not all one pace and there’s a good contrast between the lush, clean vocals and the tortured rasps. Overall this a very good album and comes highly recommended to fans of Agalloch, Xasthur or Wodensthrone.
http://www.myspace.com/drapsnatt
