Norway’s black Metal trio Svartelder returns after five years with a follow-up to their 2019 album Pits. Trenches is a dark, superbly atmospheric offering that demonstrates, on the very first listen, that the last five years this offering was in the making have been very well spent.
Svartelder – Trenches (Soulseller Records)
Release Date: 2 August 2024
Words: Jools Green
As with the two previous albums, their debut Pyres in 2016 and the previously mentioned Pits, sound-wise, it reflects their rather unique, creative approach to old-school Black Metal. Cold and classically styled, it is layered with a dark and malevolent atmosphere, melded with hypnotically haunting melodic elements and nightmarish soundscapes.
The style of Svartelder is embellished by each member’s individuality and creativity as experienced musicians, broadening the sound and elevating it from the standard old-school style into something far more forward-thinking. This is something they have done in large increments with each successive release.
Lyrically the trio, Doedsadmiral on vocals, Tjalve covering both bass and guitars with Spektre on drums, continue to find inspiration in death, Satanism and a range of Norwegian-inspired subjects.
Trenches opens with Psychotic Symphony, a piece that weaves a superbly complex soundscape throughout. The sparse, haunting guitar notes that open rapidly give way to an all-out blackened assault of riffs, drum battery and acidic snarls.
Panning back to a dark, rolling melody, it drops further with a succession of complex ebbs and builds. The multiple voices, some snarling, some deranged, add to the mental imagery the track creates. Complexly engaging and mind-blowingly unpredictable direction shifts and squealy thrashy leadwork add further to the overall sound. It’s a mind-blowingly good opening piece.
A hunting melody over dark pounding rhythms opens I Give The Stranger A Sign, ebbing away to unearthly vocalisations briefly, before resuming that original ominous path. There are also dark, thrashy elements woven in. The second half builds in waves of tremolo picking, ebbing back to those pounding rhythms towards the close. Another superbly engaging piece, not least for the superbly mesmeric drum work.
The intriguingly titled Touch This Norwegian Finger is an equally intriguing listen. A dark, crawling beast of a track initially, snarling guttural vocals and strange howls appear alongside a bleak, haunting melody. There is a midway drop away to a sound bite of a storm and strange haunting whistling.
The pace resumes a little faster than before, with plodding old-school Black Metal riffs alongside the bleak, haunting melody from the first half with expressive yet indecipherable vocals. The song closes on unnerving whistling as it fades out.
The heady repeating meld of intense driving riffs, raw protracted vocals delivered as multiple voices and dark pounding but melodic elements make The Forgiving Isolation a brutally irresistible listen.
As All Ends… delivers steady black plod as it opens, building in complexity in increments. The layers of voices, some raw and snarling, some higher and deranged, add a superbly unnerving atmosphere. Midway, the haunting leadwork is just sublime.
….with Death is a slow, eerie and ominous crawling beast overlaid with snarling protracted vocals. A track that definitely emanates a funereal mood.
Final piece, In The Trenches, is a driving, snarling beast of a track from the offset, especially in the vocal department where the vocals are at the most vehement and protracted of the whole album. Everything is thrown at this piece, notably intriguing ebbs and builds, unpredictable twists and turns and copious amounts of pummelling drum rhythms alongside more melodic swathes.
But the layers of insanely good vocals, which enter the realms of pure evil at times, dominate throughout. This is a closing track you will not forget in a hurry.
Trenches is a superbly crafted offering and a compelling listen end to end.
It was mixed and mastered by Marius Strand at Strand Studio. The artwork was crafted, as with the previous two albums, by Khaos Diktator, Stefan Todorović (Gorgoroth) a superb artist who has done some darkly impactful artwork for both Svartelder and a huge number of other Black Metal bands including Asagraum, The Infernal Sea, Nadiwrath, Nordjevel and Saor.
Trenches will be available as a limited-edition vinyl, in a choice of two colours, CD or digital download.
while I find the music strong and energetic, I cannot listen to black metal because I find the obsession with topics like satanism and so on (and certainly the appearance of the musicians and the artwork oddly childish and repelling at the same time). What is all this trying to say? Is it somehow coded and all symbolic for “wordly” evil, or do black metal musicians (and fans) really think there is such a domain like heaven and hell and fairy tale figures like satan? And even if there were, why on earth would one want to worship the devil? If he really existed he would be pure evil per definition, which means he would not have good intentions even towards his worshippers. He would just be evil. Who in their right mind would want to support such? 🙂