Sweden rules divine
This
young three-piece from Malmö, Sweden possibly released the best
black metal album of 2017 with their debut full length album (out on
the always reliable Iron Bonehead.) It’s everything I like about
the genre in one marvelous package full of riffs and killer
atmospheric bits.
While
clearly looking at the olde gods of the genre such as Bathory,
there’s a definite will to keep things balanced between ancient and
actual. That’s something you can find in contemporaries allies such
as The Ruins of Beverast or Tribulation. Like those two bands,
creating an occult atmosphere was one of the goals they gave
themselves and they truly did that with this record. Jordablod do
something new but in a subtle way, it’s all in the details. Their
style is an amalgam of primal black metal and barbaric (in the best
way possible) death metal. It can recall the earliest foundations of
the genres where things weren’t written in stone. They play around
with different slow-burning atmospheres, some of them can recall the
cold feel of pre-Christianity Sweden where Viking rituals were common
(“Hin Håle”) while some others are rooted in fast quasi-folky
metal à la Melechesh (“A Sculptor of the Future”.). Those numerous perspectives gave this album an additional coating of quality.
Despite
those influences, they’re never silly or sugary. It’s done with
good taste and a profound understanding of how their music should
sound. At times, Jordablod sounds like a more organic Negative Plane.
They both took the first wave sound and made it contemporary. The
guitars are vivid, in your face and even in the softer, slower
moments, there’s stuff happening. There’s absolutely no filler on
this record. The guitar tone has this complex otherworldly charm. The
band shines on those epic moments (see the conclusion/solo of
“Liberator of Eden”) and I think they’re up there with
Primordial for this long-winded intense approach to metal. Just like
its artwork, Upon My Cremation Pyre is a grandiose, colourful record
full of twists and turns
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