Artist......: D°dsfall
Album.......: NΣr M÷rkret ─r Pσ VΣg
Year........: 2022
Genre.......: Black Metal
Label.......: Drakkar Productions
Cat.No......: DKCD246
Source......: CD
Encoder.....: libFLAC 1.3.1 20141125
Quality.....: 1023kbps avg. / 44.1kHz / 2 channels
Playtime....: 00:42:35 (326.93MB)
R.date......: 2023-01-14
S.date......: 2022-11-11
Disc 1 / 1
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01. Helveteselden 6:21
02. Nattens Svarta Djaevlar 5:05
03. Skogen Vid Norra Aenden 5:07
04. Isborg 5:12
05. Doedsfaerd Genom Xibalba 7:21
06. Goetaland 6:24
07. Evighetens Onda Salar 7:05
Swedish based artist Is (a.k.a. Ishtar) is now the only member of D°dsfall
judging by the line-up listed on the bandÆs sixth album ôNΣr m÷rkret Σr pσ
vΣgö. His former bandmate Telal, a Norwegian drummer, left the band. So the
band is actually Swedish now, not Swedish-Norwegian (according to Is in an
interview with Metal Jacket Magazine, he has ônever said that the band is
entirely Norwegianö). Even though Is is Mexican-born (this, by the way,
explains the presence of a song in Swedish about Xibalba on the new opus û
ôD÷dsfΣrd genom Xibalbaö i. e. ôA Journey through Xibalbaö). Nevertheless,
if the material of the previous album ôD°den skal ikke venteö could be
described as an attack of the second or whatever Norwegian black metal
echelon, well, something in the spirit of Taake, Tsjuder and Urgehal, then
on their (his) new album D°dsfall offer (offers) really Swedish black
metal. Almost.
á
The thing is that Is made a move not only in space, but also in time: from
the very first song ôHelveteseldenö we hear echoes of old-school Swedish
black metal, in particular early Dark Funeral. No less often, especially in
the second half of the album, you can spot the influence of Dissection,
primarily in the solo parts, the most revealing songs are ôSkogen vid nora
Σndenö and ôIsborgö. While Norwegian old school black metal can be found,
if only in the mentioned ôD÷dsfΣrd genom Xibalbaö û it has something of
Immortal in it as well. Now dissonance, which is actively used in modern
black metal, is not particularly in demand among D°dsfall: a fast almost
atonal riff in the final part of ôNattens svarta djΣvlarö and an opening
one with atonal guitar picking in the spirit of Mayhem in ôEvighetens onda
salarö û thatÆs probably all. Yes, there is little that breaks the
old-school atmosphere here.
á
The shrieking vocals are also a bit reminiscent of what you could hear on
MardukÆs albums before. However, Is often sings/declaims with a clear voice
(ôHelveteseldenö, ôSkogen vid norra Σndenö, ôIsborgö and ôD÷dsfΣrd genom
Xibalbaö). Add to this that keyboards are used on ôNΣr m÷rkret Σr pσ vΣgö
sometimes (ôHelveteseldenö, ôNattens svarta djΣvlarö, ôIsborgö and
ôEvighetens onda salarö), as well as acoustic guitar (opening Bathory-like
picking in ôHelveteseldenö and the flamenco passage at the end of
ôG÷talandö). There are a lot of blast beats on the album, but on the whole
the tempo changes several times in the piece, and we are witnessing both
high-speed outbreaks of fury and melodic slowness. Well, here are the main
elements of Swedish melodic black metal gathered.
For all that, D°dsfall accepted thrash metal tinges in guitar riffs
noticeably. Starting with the first ôHelveteseldenö, the palm muting
technique in thrash metal attitude is used quite frequently throughout the
album. And the matter is not limited only to it, D°dsfall quite often enter
the territory of blackened thrash metal like early Absu û the sixth
ôG÷talandö is the most indicative in this regard.
á
However, Is did not stop at bringing only thrash metal into his music. No
less often we hear heavy metal touches on the album, the matter is that
such riffs are not so easy to catch and identify due to the evil and raw
guitar sound. However, the finale (including the solo) of the first song is
almost clear power metal, ôNattens svarta djΣvlarö also has a heavy/power
metal lick, and so on until ôD÷dsfΣrd genom Xibalbaö, which being the most
mysterious (while very vicious) unexpectedly ends with heavy metal
technical feats.
á
Stylistic abundance and melodic richness is best demonstrated by the third
ôSkogen vid nora Σndenö: it cannot get an acceleration for a long time, but
finally picks up the pace, while harmony and consistency are preserved at
any speed. There is a lot of old-school Swedish black metal touches in this
song, even Swordmaster comes to mind at speed, there is also an abrupt
transition to a typical Swedish tremolo picking lead line here, while the
final solo reminds of Dissection. But on the other hand there are plenty of
palm muted riffs here too: the song opens with an evil almost pure thrash
metal palm muting. In addition, ôSkogen vid nora Σndenö is full of heavy
metal elements. As contrasted to it, by the way, the last ôEvighetens onda
salarö, also filled with passages from different genres, does not sound so
harmonious, and what is more obvious û it is clearly overlong.
ôD°den skal ikke venteö was recorded, mixed and mastered by Tore Stjerna,
so it would be interesting to compare the new album with it in terms of
production. Of course, what was created in Necromorbus Studio was a little
softer, cleaner and noticeably more distinct. In his turn, Is also kept his
end up when mixing the new work (right, he did everything himself): ôNΣr
m÷rkret Σr pσ vΣgö has a fairly clear production, it is not a raw
D.I.Y.-recording at all as is usually the case with numerous one-man black
metal projects. Nevertheless, it would be better if Is created his new opus
in the previous studio, after all, this material is quite technical to
refuse the services of a more experienced sound engineer.
á
Perhaps Is wanted to add some rawness to his new creation, which seems
quite natural due to the acquisition of an old school tendency to his
material. Yes, there is something in the combination of ornate music and
rawness, this is an interesting maneuver. However, the drums sound suffered
a lot because of such an approach: we got these terrible typical modern
metal plastic triggered (or even programmed) drums. The ôNattens svarta
djΣvlarö beginning generally creates the feeling of a drum machine: yes, we
see a live drummer in the video for this song, but what are we supposed to
do with what we hear? Although Tore Stjerna also often gets blamed for such
ôplasticö drums, he makes the sound much more natural. Much worse is that
these ôplasticö drums donÆt fit well to the rather raw guitar sound.
Summary. ôNΣr m÷rkret Σr pσ vΣgö will appeal to those who prefer both evil
and melodic music. Old schoolness is the foremost attraction of the album,
although compared to the classical standards the songs are quite
feature-packed. It is not certain that the album will be 100% accepted by
the fans of the former D°dsfall, but it will help to find new fans.
-Metal Observer