Svartsyn - Black Testament (2013)

Svartsyn has a pretty distinct ability to reinvent itself on each new album without abandoning the black metal genre whatsoever, and upon the Swedes' 7th full-length, Black Testament, there is once more this sense of aesthetic shift. The last (new) record, Wrath Upon the Earth had a soil-like, unnerving texture to it anchored by ghastlier black/death hybrid vocals, but here, both the music and vocals have ventured back into a stricter black metal territory. What's interesting about this is just how much atmosphere Ornias is able to wring out of all the layers of tremolo picking. Chugging and open chords exist throughout the composition, but the sheer savagery and wealth of rapidly plucked note progressions is very redolent of Norway's Immortal through the mid 90s. Churning and cold punishment dealt out at high velocities with little forgiveness. Melodies are not presented as blossoming flora, but sharp edged fragments of stone that chisel away at the listener's countenance until he or she is as weather-beaten as the songwriting.

All of this is dowsed in this constant sense of airy, forward motion (also reminded me of Immortal), which occasionally lurches into this spike of vitriolic, simpler notes that reek of evil. The breakdown in "Demoness with Seven Names" or the writhing escalations inaugurating "Eyes of the Earth" are solid examples of how, despite a lack of complexity or perhaps novel ideas, the simple tremolo riff techniques can still stab your dreams. Drums are performed with a meticulous, callous hostility that feels like a field of robot workers being accelerated for maximum productivity. The kick speed is just insane, and strangely, while they are clearly audible throughout the disc, they are used simply as a seat for the more robustly textured, searing guitars. I won't lie: there is a tendency here to just blast away which can imbue a numbing monotony to the entire proceedings, and I wish there might have been a fraction more variation in how some of the tunes were structured. But there are definitely some breaks in the action where the drums and riffs will take on a more thrashing pace, and the sheer proliferation of Ornias' riffing ideas helps to soak up some of the potential boredom. Some extreme black metal records are just level planes of blasting and recycled riff patterns, but Black Testament is more of a cracked, cold steppe, where sharpened clusters of rock break up at regular intervals across the flat ground.

The bass guitar is vaguely audible throughout the experience, being performed at speeds equal to the guitar in most cases, but it's often not a feature in music of this style. Ornias' vocals are nothing unusual in black metal, yet the rasp is convincingly dry and aggressive when it catapults out over the ballistic riffing progressions and its fully flush with its incendiary environment. Even despite its tendency to mash-up traditional, predictable  Scandinavian black speed with wave after wave of clashing rhythm guitars, I actually found this a worthwhile effort which would occasionally hypnotize with its unbridled intensity. The drumming and pacing could have been more dynamic without the guitars suffering, but you can easily lose yourself in the picking whiplash and haunted, deep snarls that hover over its unforgivable landscape. Svartsyn has also had a long series of curious, cool cover images on their releases (excepting perhaps the original debut), and Black Testament is no exception, with a rustic, autumnal, freakish nature spirit with what seems like a serpentine phallus, surrounded by wing-beating locusts or other fiendish insects that almost look like leaves at a distance. Now, imagine that thing leaping out at you on your next bird watch or garden tour. Things like this are why I choose to stay indoors.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.svartsyn.com/

Svartsyn - The True Legend (2012)

As sharp as it looks with its hellish new design, The True Legend is not actually a new album of original Svartsyn tracks, but a partial re-recording and remix of their 1998 debut on Folter Records. The Swedish black metal veterans have gone all out to address numerous issues with the material's older incarnation, and thus it sounds practically like a different band. Some listeners might balk at such a decision since the revisions sounds a lot more polished and meaty, but trust me when I say that the changes are like night and day. The old version sounded like it was recorded in a toilet somewhere in the dregs of Malebolgia, where this new skin is fresh, pummeling and even more vicious due to the vocal mix and sheer, gut wrenching fiber of the guitar tone.

Some may rue the fact that the track "Goatthrone" from the original is omitted here, but the rest of them remain and maintain a rapt portrait of diabolism that is quite headbangable. The guitars in "Cursed Blase from the Castle" or "Snake in the Garden of Eden" ooze with simplistic, fulfilling chord rhythms, their archetypes rooted in the savage, rocking momentum of old that was once pioneered by acts like Hellhammer, Bathory, Mayhem and Bewitched. There are some blasted sequences for those more enamored of the Dissection, Lord Belial, Sacramentum variety of Swedish melodic black woven throughout the 90s ("Ghoulhaunted Forest", "Shadows Painting My Eyes"), but in general I found that the more mid paced or punk-fueled rhythms throughout the album were its clear strong points. Most impressive, though, are the vocals of Ornias which are brutal barks that sound like a pack of attacking hellhounds. Rapacious, reverbed vitriol at its finest, and they help compensate for the relatively average, barbaric lyrics.

The guitar tone reminds me a bit of the modern Arckanum recordings. Rich, strong and fluid, though the actual writing isn't all that similar beyond the overarching black metal components. The drums are tight, the bass pumping and the dynamics wide enough that the songs stay fresh even when their riffing patterns seem contrived or less appealing. Personally, I found the sound of the original album to be quite restricting, and thus greatly preferred their sophomore ...His Majesty (2000), but this fresh coat of paint goes a long way towards fixing its production issues. I wouldn't say that The True Legend suddenly becomes an amazing, unforgettable experience, or one of the better records in that Swedish class of later 90s, but its a facelift well deserved, and in all honesty I'd be just as likely to break this out as their recent records like Wrath Upon the Earth (2011) or Timeless Reign (2007). It will be interesting to see if they implement a similar sound to future efforts.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (possessed with killing)

http://www.myspace.com/svartsynband

Svartsyn - Wrath Upon the Earth (2011)

Aside from the year 2000 sophomore ...His Majesty, the Swedish Svartsyn's previous efforts have left little impression upon me, but it's nevertheless impressive that prime mover Ornias has kept the project alive for nearly two decades. Wrath Upon the Earth is the sixth full-length player, both more focused and more wretched than previous works such as Timeless Reign and Destruction of Man, and though I'm not sure it will be the one to reel me back into his gone graces, it's an interesting black metal record with some possible legs to it, due to the means through which it manages various elements, surging its raw and negative emotions with adequate pessimism and propulsion.

A ritual, almost tribal and grim intro descends into the "Wrath of Leviathan", a track which thrives off storming drums and banks of desperate, shining chords, but what is most noticeable here is how Ornias uses the vocals. These are not your standard black rasping, but instead create a deeper, death metal effect that is not unlike a Martin van Drunen, only more dense and garbled. It's actually an effective technique here, especially when it is balanced off against the backing synthesizers and writhing, melodic guitar passages. It also sets most of the tone for the remainder of the record. "My Mountain" and "Deathsworned" sound like natural side corridors, which at most will experiment with their percussion (lot of drum fills here) and rampant slews of dire sounding chord progressions. Turbulent, earthen and effective, but unfortunately once you've explored beyond the midpoint of the album, not a lot else happens, and you feel like you're listening to the same tempo shifts, even if the individual notations vary.

That being said, Wrath Upon the Earth is a balanced enough experience to take in a few tracks per listening, and the cavernous enormity of its production is comparable with a lot of the death metal nostalgia currently in favor, while maintaining the blitzkrieg momentum of the harder Norse and Swedish black metal practitioners. The vocals go a long way towards making the material stand out, even if the quality of the guitar lines does vary in the memory. Though I enjoyed ...His Majesty quite a bit when I first heard it, and that used only a few of the more grunted vocals, I'll admit that Ornias has mutated his project into something more interesting, a soil churning nightmare that, while flawed, can still create tremors throughout a fragile sanity.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/svartsynband