Weekly Spotlight, Week 49 / 2024

A week of grim darkness, as releases from Ungfell, Plaguefever, Völva, Bedsore and Dewfall blot out all light. 

Ungfell – De Ghörnt

Genre: Black/folk metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Switzerland

From this delightfully eccentric Swiss “alpine” blackened folk metal outfit comes a statement of an album that makes its intentions clear from the first few seconds. No intro track, no interludes, no bullshit. Every song struts with creative prowess, as if attempting to outdo the previous one in level of either pure aggression, rhythmic versatility, or melodic heft. No, as far as its theme and façade goes, you’re not really supposed to take it super seriously, but allowing you to understand this up front is incredibly freeing, as you’re then set to appreciate its quirks and antics as strengths. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not silly (not even Finntroll-level silly, really), just very keen on shaking up and embellishing the formula. The great thing is that it’s done with peak taste and skill. The band takes you through roaring storms, wild midnight rituals, rowdy log cabin rock-outs, to triumphant peaks of magnificent scope.

Highlights: “Im Ruusch” and “Sturmglockä” 

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Plaguefever – Flail of Pestilence

Genre: Black/thrash metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: USA

Properly scorched blackened thrash metal that sounds like it’s performed by a gang of leather-clad liches. This stuff is bad to the bone, firing off sinister riffs barbed with peak-evil raspy vocals like they’ve got an endless supply. It advances on you on marching, steady rhythms that aren’t afraid to sidestep into mid-tempo black ‘n’ roll when the moment calls for some groove. It’s much more an in-your-face, hold-nothing-back experience than one that tries to build to a peak, stage by stage, but they still manage to crown most of the tracks with some memorable highlights, usually by slowing down into crushing breakdowns. While they probably could have benefitted from going a bit more wild at times, in order to further spice things up, the riff-hungry listener will be able to come out the other end absolutely stuffed.

Highlight: “340 Skulls”

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Völva – Desires Profane

Genre: Black metal

Subjective rating: 4/5

Objective rating: 3.5/5

Country of origin: Sweden

I have a weak spot for when bands are able to truly saturate their music with anger. It speaks of passion and conviction, but also simply radiates protest and outrage, refusing to ignore or stay quiet about the fucked-up, unfair, horrendous shit that goes on every day, courtesy of mankind. And this satanic-feminist group from Sweden have managed exactly this. Every song feels like an exorcism of bottomless spite, expelling rasp-hissing vocal bile, crust-infused rhythms and ripping riffs with a gut-punch bass rumble pushing it all forwards like shockwaves. It’s got a bit of thrash shredding, death metal savagery, punk abandon and gothic drama, which all make welcome contrasts to the sometimes fairly predictable black metal tone and blast beats. A holy-water-and-piss molotov cocktail of a debut.

Highlight: “Asmodeus”

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Bedsore – Dreaming the Strife for Love

Genre: Progressive death/black metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Italy

There’s going prog, and then there’s absorbing prog. These Italian gentlemen seem to have taken a mental time machine a few decades back, to the golden age of prog rock, with only vague memories remaining of a future where such a thing as extreme metal exists. The cool thing about this is that there’s no pretending. We’re going on a trip, there will be hallucinogen-inspired, animatronic fantasy creatures and epic, matte-painted landscape backgrounds galore, and that’s the end of it. At times it does sound more like a scene-setting soundtrack than a musical centerpiece, at least until the vocals and old-school tech death riffs and rhythms jump in. The album manages the feat of sounding intentional while being highly unpredictable in a non-random way that doesn’t call undue attention to the structure or technicality behind it. Learn to love the synth, don a headband and a pair of tinted sunglasses, and get carried away.

Highlight: “Realm of Eleuterillide”

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Dewfall – Landhaskur

Genre: Black/folk metal

Subjective rating: 3.5/5

Objective rating: 4/5

Country of origin: Italy

An Italian black metal project that dips into the occult and pagan without getting soaked in folk metal tropes. It feels solemn, with chants and melancholic tremolo saturating the sound, but retains a roughness thanks to wild drum flourishes, with tribal-like beats and riff sections in between, a tasteful use of traditional, acoustic instruments and a few playful solos that sound like little critters skittering up the tree trunks of the dark forest we find ourselves in. It’s both primitive and complex, and the longer you listen to it the more it starts to speak to you, like you’re being indoctrinated into its shadowy, old-god-worshipping society.

Highlight: “Fara”