Entry 1519 - Ossaert - Bedehuis

Style: black metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Darkness, death, and the world of blasphemy 

Thoughts: Black metal is my favorite genre. It has some of the most powerful music ever created to be held within the confines of its boundaries. Some of the strongest atmospheres in metal or really any genre have come from its humble roots. Some truly amazing bands... Ossaert is not one of those bands.

The four tracks present on this album are about as simple as you can get within the black metal genre. While there is a place for this there are specific things that are required of the music for me to find it enjoyable. 

The music must be well performed, the atmosphere must be top notch, and most importantly the music must be written with a raw primitive emotion that is not found in any other genre. Ossaert has none of this on Bedehuls. 

The music is simple and repetitive but the passion and raw production are lacking. The music has aggression but there is no real fire or vitriol to the supposed hate that is coming from the project. The music is executed well but it feels formulaic and has a black metal by the numbers type execution. 

I'm sure there are people out there that will enjoy this album, but I am not one of them. This is generic black metal with no real redeeming qualities and it's simply not something that I will spend much time listening to, now or in the future.

Entry 1518 - Arstidir Lifsins - Heljarkvida

Style: folk black metal, Viking metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Vikings, their kin, and the vast ocean

Thoughts: There is no band like this. No band on the planet that writes metal in this style outside of Arstidir Lifsins. I have had the absolute pleasure of listening to their music in several of their full lengths prior to this writing and I am always craving more... well I have now acquired more and the quality remains from their pervious works. 

What other band plays songs that are this engaging for this long? I can probably name a few individual examples... but to do it so consistently, for so many albums. I can't think of another band. 

What other band is able to have such an epic atmosphere time and time again throughout multiple full lengths and EPs? Again individual examples exist but nothing is as consistent or as compelling as these guys. The violin mixed with the deep booming spoken vocals transitioning into the insanely brutal Viking laced black metal is goosebump inducing. There's nothing quite like it.

On Heljarkvida specifically the band has produced two twenty plus minute tracks that embody the essence of what the band is about. Sweeping epic black metal that has tinges of folk metal and the atmosphere of a Baltic storm that has come to claim every long ship in its clutches. There is nothing like it. 

I feel like I could write a novel on how much I love this band, but I will refrain for now. Every release I have from them is exceptional and leaves me wanting more. Luckily for me there is a LOT more for me to explore from the band. Simply incredible music.

Entry 1517 - Shadow Dungeon - A Crypt of Mysteriis

Style: dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: the dead, their crypts, and the great unknown

Thoughts: There truly is something wonderful about the dungeon synth genre. No matter what iteration of the music I hear there is almost always something to like. 

Shadow Dungeon is yet another entry into the classic dungeon synth realm. There are two long compositions that fall very much in line with the early Mortiis albums. That being that they seem to be a combination of a bunch of smaller compositions before being combined into the twenty minute long epic that they are in their album form. 

I'm not opposed to this style of creating songs. It forces the listener to take the entire side of the record in at once without skipping tracks - something I am naturally inclined to do regardless. There is a part of me though that would love to have individual song titles and track lengths, if nothing more than to see a bit more into the artist's mind. Song titles go a long way to seeing what the artist intended when they created the music. Though without them I am also allowed the freedom for my own interpretation.

So in the spirit of interpretation A Crypt of Mysteriis is exactly that; an exploration of the unknown, the dark depths of the earth and the realm of the dead. The album is - again - a collection of smaller compositions that range from small musings to epic sprawling opus'. The resultant album does indeed feel like a journey to some unknown destination... a dark destination. 

Perhaps we are searching for a lost relic. Mayhaps an heirloom. Or perhaps we are simply taking a stroll through the more moribund parts of the earth. Regardless the synths and melodies that Shadow Dungeon has produced on these two tracks are fitting for any of the above endeavors and a near infinite more. 

A Crypt of Mysteriis is a fine classic dungeon synth album. It falls in line exactly with what you would expect from the early black metal/dungeon synth movement. Even though this album was written 25 to 30 years after the initial movement the spirit remains the same. Not something that can be said about much modern dungeon synth.  

Entry 1516 - Winterblood - Waldeninsamkelt

Style: dungeon synth, dark ambient, wintersynth

Primary Emotions/Themes: the cold comes for us all

Thoughts: The night slowly creeps over the frozen waste land. Years of ice and frost have covered this tundra, undisturbed by the filthy hands of man. The spirit of Winter lies here peacefully in this tranquil yet inhospitable land. This is the land that Winterblood has created through their music.

The essence of Waldeninsamkelt come in the form of slow, drawn out compositions that range from twenty to forty minutes in length. A minimalistic ambience is the basis for all things that are to come. These solitary tones provide not only the backing but also the atmosphere for the entirety of this eighty minute epic.

Played one solitary note after the other, the basis of the album has a lonely almost forgotten feel to it. It paints not a grim picture, no - but rather a land that has been forgotten by time and more importantly unspoiled by human hands. Yes, there is isolation, there is loneliness... but there is also peace. 

The only accompaniment to these lonely tones is a bright and echoes melody. Melody is a bit of a misnomer here - for the music does not follow traditional melodic structure. Rather the tune is carried by a strikingly similar cadence to the lonely tones of the backing notes. The only differentiation is the brightness and tamber of these higher melodic notes to the more somber tones that came before. 

The melody acts more like a counterpoint to the backing tracks. Together they complete the picture painted of these frostbitten landscapes. Slowly painting a picture of loss and death... yet still maintaining tranquillity above all. Yes, there is sorrow. Yes, there was once suffering... but no more. Now there is only stillness, now there is only calm.