Many bands, including a large number from the wide range of (sub) genres of metal, are easily classified by a sound which rarely varies from type or from that of their most successful material. It could be argued that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this approach and that if a band is happy with the material they are creating that should be more than enough.
However, there is an all too rare form of fundamental, pure joy which is experienced in seeing a band evolve far beyond what they once were and to witness the experimentation that can come from such a venture. Although they have existed for close to 30 years, this is only the seventh studio album from Dødheimsgard (DHG). Few bands remain from the second wave of Norwegian black metal but DHG’s willingness and desire to move towards a more experimental, innovative and daring sound now see them as one of avant-garde metal’s vanguards.
Black Medium Current builds on the band’s sound from their previous album A Umbra Omega. Seven years have passed since the release of the latter and anticipation has been building for another offering from these experts in metaphysical and almost abstract metal. Neither album could be described as an easy listen but the band’s ability to create desperately wistful, plaintive yet entrancing experimental musical soliloquies is their strength. This does not mean that DHG have moved so far from their roots that elements of their black metal origins do not remain within the dark and gloomy realms of Black Medium Current but now these foundations serve the overall picture the band paint rather than being front and centre of everything they do. The vast brush strokes of this picture are created by the expansive and vivid lyrics intertwining with the moving, affecting music that dwells at the heart of this album.
Not being a fan of overlong albums, the running time of 70 minutes initially seems somewhat daunting but DHG have managed to produce an album that, amongst the incredible scope of the swells and eddies of emotion, flow perfectly fully immersing those on the journey and making the nine tracks seem much shorter.
Beginning with quiet, acoustic guitar and gentle, almost tender vocals (pitch changing almost imperceptibly), opener Et Smelter erupts into life two minutes in and pulls us into a shadowy expedition through the mind on which DHG wish to take us. DHG’s lyrics (a mixture of Norwegian and English – sometimes in the same song) tackle their views on the most introspective aspects of life. Vocalist / guitarist Vicotnik tells us, “The whole album revolves subjectively around perception, experience, psychology, objective / subjective reality versus external pressure, tropes, taboos and the laws of motion / causality which influences one’s life.” The songs that make up the excellent Black Medium Current are certainly no three-minute pop songs but the reward for the listener prepared to devote time and cerebral capacity to the album is deep and precious indeed. Vicotnik also makes much of the epistemological elements at play and the lyrics make us question our own truths as we look deep within our own perceptions on life. Et Smelter’s opening lyrics (I kjærlighetens opprør / Når sinnene blør / De ensomme og desperate / De vinker fra dronningens gate or in English In the rebellion of love / When minds become / The lonely and desperate / They wave from the queen’s gate), certainly do not ease us in gently but the album is engrossing from the first moment. It is certainly an opus that stays with you long after the last notes of the closing song, the haunting Requiem Aeternum (Eternal Rest), have died away.
While this may all sound incredibly deep, heavy and even overwhelming to the uninitiated, it can truly be said that there are moments of light and hope within the dark crevices of the album. Three and a half minutes into second track Tankespinnerens Smerte is one of the most uplifting musical sections to be found here – it is repeated as the track continues and the lyrics (Prøver å lære å sette spor / Ting er aldri slik man tror or Trying to learn to leave a mark / Things are never as you think) perfectly counterbalance with the opulent, melodic flourishes and the bleaker passages of the song.
While each track, the two-minute Voyager (itself an agonising yet achingly beautiful piano-driven piece) aside, has an epic, vast energy of their own, this impression is most alive on majestic, impenetrable eleven-minute centrepiece, Abyss Perihelion Transit. Nowhere on the album is Vicotnik's desire to investigate the ambiguity of being more palpable. While he is listed as Vicotnik (the vehicle through which his creativity can live) in the band’s line up on the sleeve notes, when writing (both musically and lyrically) he is credited by his real name of Yusaf Parvez further demonstrating the depths from which his reflections are mined. Abyss Perihelion Transit is a hypnotic almost somniferous peregrination, which staggers in its ability to intoxicate the listener.
Combining these songs with the unnerving uneasiness of Interstellar Nexus, the sombre soul-searching of Halow and the spectacular amalgamation of black metal and electronica on Det Tomme Kalde Mørke , DHG have produced one of the best, most cohesive metal albums of the year so far. It is also one of the best sound albums of this genre – brutal when it needs to be but allowing each nuance of every vocalisation or instrument to be heard.
Black Medium Current is an ambitious and irresistibly alluring album that further highlights DHG’s odyssey well beyond the limits of traditional black metal. While not for everyone, those who appreciate pushing the boundaries with genre-defying music and demanding lyrics should fully avail themselves with this album’s dark delights…. be prepared.
Watch the video for Abyss Perihelion Transit below.
Written: April 2023
コメント