Artist: Svartahrid
Title: Ex Inferi
Type: Album
Label: Soulseller Records

Forgetting my absolute genre essentials, I guess for me there is a thin line between the kind of black metal album that is likely to stay sat on my shelf for years with very few plays if not thrown straight on EBay, and the ones I will probably listen to once every few months. I would have to say that in my book, the key to a good black metal album is in the atmosphere and the emotion it creates – I’m not impressed by drummers blasting away like they have four legs and vocalists screaming about Satan unless there is some real substance in there that makes me actually feel it. Hailing from Norway and having been knocking around since 1994, you’d expect that Svartahrid have some idea how to create half decent black metal and actually you’d be right in assuming so. According to Metal Archives, they’ve even gone as far as to engage in typically necro-antics by breaking into a crematory, desecrating a few corpses and taking a head as a trophy. Good times!

Sure, Ex Inferi does nothing that we haven’t all heard at least a hundred times before. I’d be a bloody liar if I told you this had gone as far as to blow me away, but it at the very least meets my criteria listed above for an album I’ll probably go back to at least once or twice this year. This kicks off with an intro that leads us in with a certain amount of intrigue. There’s a kind of epic clamour and underlying darkness that has me expecting us to go straight into battle and as we enter ‘Cursed Seeds Of The Nazarene’ are introduced to some fast and furious drums while the guitars let out some icy blasts and yet there’s a slow, ominous riff that winds its way through giving a more melodic touch.

‘Scale Of Worth’ has a mystifying little riff and a subtle sprinkling of keyboards that adds atmosphere. There’s just enough synths on this album to add a touch of colour without saturating it. I find the scything jangliness in the guitars quite hypnotic while at times it rattles ahead calamitously. ‘Ex Inferi’ is similar in that sense, and this one has some rather menacing riffs and certainly doesn’t stop for a breather as it spirals off into a vortex of devastation. ‘Fire Hate Kill’ kicks up a ferocious furore and the jagged staccato riffing is rather funky. ‘March With Us’ takes us down a rather grim road albeit at a pace somewhat faster than a march, while ‘Blessed By Darkness’ slows down to a dark and menacing romp which gradually speeds up. I must admit my hopes for this album weren’t especially high, however I found it to be a highly competent release – it’s nothing special but it ticks all of the right boxes and is worth buying if you’re a fan of Norwegian black metal.

http://www.myspace.com/svartahrid