ANGANTYR: "Forvist"

Taking on an Angantyr album is never a simple task. The songs drag on and on, there's no real variation during whole albums, and a foreign listener can't really even follow the lyrical story. So what's the catch? Honestly I'm not sure, even though I consider 2007's Hævn to be a monumental record that carries a lot of personal importance for me.

And although Ynleborgaz's music doesn't base on any really unique ideas, it's always recognizable Angantyr. The deal is rather straightforward black metal that balances 50/50 on two elements that are atmosphere and hatred – not separately, but always combined. And when a certain kind of nostalgic mourning gets conflated with the disgust and hate towards Christianity, you get the proud, paganish style that the band has been executing since 1997.

The newest album, Forvist, follows these familiar steps closely, and before embarking on its journey I was unsure if I could take another round of the same style, but apparently I can and with largely positive thoughts. What always grabs my attention is the ultimate, and I really mean ultimate, endurance and power of the sole member behind it all. He may whack the kit like a machine for continuous 10 minutes as well as firing those tremolo-riffs for an eternity. So maybe the feeling of endurance, 'never-give-up' kind of attitude is part of Angantyr's attraction, which is very true in Forvist's case too. He comes up with these menacing yet tragic riffs and holds the listener in trance for at least six minutes every time – and then it's time for another. It all conveys the journey-kind-of feeling very strongly.

It's pretty hard to mention any particularly shining moments on Forvist because it's pure ancient battle all the way through. The feeling of a consistent whole is further evoked by the fitting appearances of an acoustic guitar in the beginning and the end of the voyage. Anyhow, as already said, it's not necessarily easy to like something as, ehm, stagnant as this album, but at least personally I don't mind having a little task of really getting into a record – no matter how stale it might sound at first – because in the end it rewards. This is a thing I guess I should have realized in the case of 2010's Svig that I largely ignored, and now it might be a good time for me to look at it with different eyes.

3.5 / 5

ELFFOR: "Unblessed Woods" Alternate Version

Unblessed Woods, Elffor’s fourth full-length dating back to 2006, has now received the usual betterment initiated by Northern Silence Productions and this is apparently wholly rerecorded and remastered version, in addition to the new artwork and a couple of bonus tracks. I’m not familiar with the original edition - or even with Elffor in general - so I have approached the record without any previous experience of this Spanish one-man project.

Warm, semi-clean and reverby production covers these heavily melodic and symphonic songs that span from 4 to 10 minutes (Unblessed Woods is a monster of an album, clocking at 75 minutes with the bonus tracks), songs with heavy doses of latter era Graveland and Summoning thrown therein. The driving forces of the album are different synth sounds -  such as choirs - and effects that are very up-front, backed up by stable (and pretty okay) drum programming and tremolo picking. Eöl delivers his screams in the quite traditional black metal way which fits well.

Without doubt, it’s atmosphere that Elffor seeks to create on the album, and definitely succeeds in that, evoking images of battlefields and landscapes in my head. But what comes to the actual compositions, there’s little to discover: none of the tracks really stand out from the mass of this beast, even if the music isn’t bad at all. It all flows nicely from a track to another, being an enjoyable ride in escapism that is occasionally very welcome amidst all the daily hassle.

Unblessed Woods is an album I’ll sometimes go back to, but doesn’t deliver anything out of the ordinary, hence I do consider albums like Oath Bound and Will Stronger Than Death much more successful. A worthwile effort if you’re not looking for proper innovation, but for a decent piece built of familiar elements.

2.5 / 5

WOODS OF DESOLATION: "Torn Beyond Reason"

Like I mentioned in my recent review of Woods of Desolation’s EP release Sorh, I had my doubts about the upcoming second full-length that was said to change the direction a little and cleanse the sound. And now that I’ve heard Torn Beyond Reason, I can’t but confirm those claims. Whereas the band’s previous material leaned more heavily on obscure and nature-like foggy atmosphere, Torn Beyond Reason is basically Austere’s To Lay Like Old Ashes part two: rather well produced majestic depressive black metal with some post-rock influences.

I can’t stress enough how much this is identical to the previously mentioned band and album, and no surprise there, knowing how closely these groups are intertwined: from the impressive howls and screams (and clean vocals of ”Somehow...”) to the tight battering and - most importantly - the tremolo picked melodies full of sorrow, everything is done the same way throughout the 38 minutes. A perfect length for the album, by the way. Some differences do occur, though: the three-minute interlude ”November” is a little surprise here with its hopeful acoustic strumming that builds up to include the rock instrumentation, not quite what you would expect from the song title and from a Woods of Desolation album - perhaps more likely from Anathema’s last year’s offering.

Do I necessarily need another To Lay Like Old Ashes if the differences are few and far between? Well, Torn Beyond Reason does offer some brilliant moments, such as the title track and ”Darker Days” that provide some truly heart-rending melodies, and also the 9-minute centerpiece ”The Inevitable End” starts to show signs of ingenuity after repeated listens. Thanks to these best moments of the album - that occur just about enough often - I could say yes, Torn Beyond Reason is a worthy album and it would be a shame to rate it poorly.

In terms of musicianship and production, I’m sure this album is a step forward for Woods of Desolation’s members, but for me it’s one step back from evolving into something more unique; instead, Torn Beyond Reason follows the current trends a tad too closely and hence consists of maybe too unsurprising elements. In a way, it’s not a bad thing when it’s done this convincingly, but on the other hand these similar melodies don’t have the same impact anymore because most of them have been heard already. Once again I’m interested to hear how the band evolves from here: if another album like this is to be expected, I’m not sure will I be that interested anymore.

3.5 / 5

HERETOIR: "Heretoir"

How ever generic it’s to fuse post-rock and shoegaze influences to black metal by now, the recent release batch by Northern Silence Productions offered a great deal of worthwile releases from this certain field, a field that blossoms thanks to a few great French innovators that triggered the flood of a thousand copycats. Much to Heretoir’s good, their eponymous debut album doesn’t follow those footsteps too closely, albeit the influence of Alcest, Agalloch and Amesoeurs shines through as bright as daylight. These fifty minutes are laden with delicate melodies and wide reverb - the wistful atmosphere is maintained successfully throughout the album even if there are some fairly weaker links in the whole, like ”To Follow the Sun” and the self-titled ending track that quite don’t rise to the level of the other sonorous tracks.

A lot of space has been given to purely instrumental passages, like e.g. ”Retreat to Hibernate” - one of the highlight tracks - imply, starting with despondent chords and turning into a rather odd and original ending, like the protagonist of this album - yes, this album flows smoothly as a consistent journey - was starting to lose his mind. A few ambient interludes are in present too, luckily not dominating with too long running times, no, they are swift moments before it’s time to bring the usual instrumentation back to the game. It’s not until ”Weltschmerz” when the black metal roots are truly visible: the song is filled with blastbeats and tremolo guitarwork, this track also belonging to one of the standout pieces on the album - not to forget the following ”Graue Bauten” and its ethereal clean vocals in the background, the more usual black metal screams on top.

Something to complain about resides in the drums that at times sound very programmed and at times real and detailed - just listen to that fine groove on the beginning of ”Retreat to Hibernate”. However it is, the drums could do better with a more realistic sound overall, as the somewhat mechanized sound doesn’t fit to the whole picture of atmospheric droning music so well. Other than that, there’s not much anything else to say when it comes to proper negative sides. No matter how unoriginal Heretoir’s debut is from the core, I find myself enjoying it greatly. Removing the few glitches and bringing more of those original moments to the music would make this at least a four star album, but for now I have to settle to a slightly ’worse’ rating. Definitely a recommendable album for those who enjoy the bands mentioned in the first paragraph.

3.5 / 5

BROCKEN MOON: "Hoffnungslos"

For reasons I can’t entirely explain to even myself, Brocken Moon’s third full-length Hoffnungslos hits the right spots in me. Maybe it has something to do with the natural, honest sound this piece of rather depressive black metal possesses: the music, going from slower synth-fuelled wanderings to maniacal blast beats, is somewhat clumsily executed - not to forget the screams of the vocalist sounding like he was totally losing control - in a rusty, underground production that all adds to the charm.

And the style remains intact throughout the 39 minutes and 7 songs of despondent and odd black metal. We’re not dealing with any masterpiece melodies here, but the way Brocken Moon manages to avoid all the biggest clichés of today - cheap depressive or religious black metal trends - and still incorporates such elements as sorrow and insanity to the music is quite admirable. Hoffnungslos has its own sound, that’s for sure, even if the eerie synths on ”Kälte” are reminiscent of Xasthur, and....

When the album ventures to the seventh track ”Einsamkeit”, something unexpected happens. You know that TV crime series Dexter? Brocken Moon has implemented - or dare I even say ripped off - one of the series’ main theme melodies, and I’m pretty sure it’s not coincidental as the piano and violins (synths) have exactly the same role as on the original piece. I find this quite amusing, and though it fits pretty well to Hoffnungslos, I would still like to find out is there any deeper meaning to this.

I’m certain that albums like Hoffnungslos will never reach big fame but there are people, like yours struly, who greatly enjoy the little details that makes the album differ from the usual standards of by-the-book black metal. Quite like Dark Tribe’s recent album Archaic Visions, Hoffnungslos is a successful piece of primitive, sad and odd black art that will receive a lot of spins in the future. 2011 is kicking off pretty well  though I’m already sure that albums like Hoffnungslos are very few and far between when it comes to being even slightly original.

3.5 / 5