Zhrine was my introduction to the incredible Icelandic black metal scene. Prior to Unortheta I had heard a lot of black metal, even a lot of dissonant black metal. But I had never heard the Icelandic take on it, and what a twisted, bastardized take that small country has on a classic style of metal.
Unortheta does not shy away from being melodic, in fact it embraces melody as a core part of its sound. That said the melodies present within the 40 minute run time are unorthodox, unpleasant, and quite simply difficult to digest.
The guitars will often go off in their own directions and have very little to do with each other. They will both create either a melody or a chord that is easy enough to digest on its own, but when put into the context of the entire song they clash horribly. The notes just don't belong together, and that is the core principle of Zhrine's sound: taking familiar elements and twisting them into a new form. A form that is disagreeable to the uninitiated listener.
In addition to the atmosphere the band creates with the instrumentation, the band have an excellent sense for when to pull the extremity back a bit. There are more than a few points in the album where the band pulls everything back and let the near silence sink in. During these periods of minimal ambience the impending threat of what is to come or what has just transpired is allowed to marinate... musically it may sound like a break, but emotionally it is anything but.
Zhrine's one and only album is an intense one. Not only through it's music but it's relentless instance on making every moment as uncomfortable as possible for the listener. It opened the door for me for a new world of black metal, and for that I owe it a great debt.
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