Dråpsnatt - Hymner Till Undergången (2010)

I listen to so much metal music that I often find myself just behind on the curve for certain artists, as with Sweden's Dråpsnatt. I had only recently gotten around to coverage on their first album, the highly promising debut I Denna Skog from last year, when I discovered that the band had already produced the follow-up. In the case of Hymner Till Undergången, we are treated to much of the same wealth of sound that characterized the debut: melodic black metal with aggressive, Burzum-like vocals mixed with cleans or deeper growls, and a love for the atmosphere conjured by creepy synthesizer lines, soaring pianos and gleaming, riverside folk acoustics, all gathered into a charge back to the rustic historic aesthetics being provoked through the wishful, Swedish lyrics.

It took a few listens before this sophomore grew upon my psyche, and that's because it lacked the punishing opener of the first album, which immediately grabbed you by the fur-lined cloak and thrust you into the band's vision. Here, the album is inaugurated instead with "En Ensam Sol Gar Ner", a bouncing, atmospheric piece to which pianos address the volley of chords, erupting into a common Swedish melodic black line over a blast beat. At first, seemed a little questionable or less passionate than the debut, but once you get to the beautiful bridge and the track surges back towards the blasted rhythm, you really start to develop a fondness for it, and all ends well. "Arvssynd" goes straight for the throat as if it were some outtake from Transilvanian Hunger, but then slows to a Burzum/Hellhammer fusion point with some fine if subtle guitar licks, followed by a swell of synthesizer. Once more, the band succeeds in providing a tasteful bridge with some clean vocal samples, and once more it segues back into a desperate, blasted charge above with the keyboards continue to thrill, like flutes of war.

This is pretty much the process for the entire course of the record. Tracks will seem rather mundane upon arrival, but then slowly reel you back to everything you enjoyed about the debut. The band's namesake "Drapsnatt" is breathtaking, with lush sequences of woodland beauty peaking out through the keyboard orchestration and flowing, simple bass. "Somna In" is all tranquility captured in the somber, clean guitars and pianos; "Ve Er" offers the same up front, but them a gradually escalating tapestry of sadness through the warmth-leeching rasps and the rural overtures. "Tonerna de Klinga" seems somewhat more schizoid, haunting and murderous through the use of deep clean vox alongside the band's grim facade. The finale to the abum, "Gasten" is one of the best songs I've heard from this band yet, with a female Swedish spoken sample alongside its folksy psychedelia and subtle, glittering synth tones.

As of yet, there are simply no fixes necessary for this band's original formula, but they will not impress you unless you are willing to listen at their pace and let yourself fall into the compositions. Granted, the band uses a lot of similar tempos and pattern shifting throughout much of the material, especially how they break out for the keyboard/acoustic passages, but as a full-bodied, 50 minute listening experience this is fairly welcome, like the bleak cover image of the wood cabin and its pagan proprietor against a forest background with the hints of golden ray shining through the boughs. Fairly mandatory if you enjoyed I Denna Skog. It's just as good. Breathtaking for anyone else who gives it a chance.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/drapsnatt

Dråpsnatt - I Denna Skog (2009)

By this time, black metal has been such a saturated medium that nearly every extremity has been explored. The genre has been cross pollinated with countless others, the trends risen and dispersed, and the general interest has leveled off to a plain of devout appreciators. Love or hate Swedish black metal, the country has produced a large range of artists and imitators, some who cop the style of Norwegian acts, others who strive towards something more unique. From the depressive Shining, to the strict and orthodox Ondskapt, the melodic black/death hybrid of Dissection, or the rigid old school blasting of Marduk, we've surely taken our fill of this nation's dark side, right? Perhaps not, as Dråpsnatt begs to differ with their rather fetching debut I Denna Skog.

Now, to be fair, the individual components of this two piece's sound are not entirely original of their own accord. The higher pitched, tortured rasping recalls Varg Vikernes, the folk elements, which are not necessarily 'folk' as they are just clean guitars and subtle keyboard layers dowsed in vocals or samples, have been offered countless times by other acts. The more aggressive riffing bounces between the raw speed licks of a Burzum, Darkthrone or Mayhem, but they also have some slower, thrashing material which sounds like a mutation of Hellhammer or Bathory. What made this album stand out to my memory is just how well the band is at fixing it all up together into one seamless, flowing tapestry with subliminal visual textures filtering the wide world of pastoral nature and the encroachment of civilization. They've got moments of sorrow, moments of longing, and moments of glory tantamount to all of our hidden emotions, and surprisingly, this is delivered through a fairly pristine mix.

Dråpsnatt are not intent on scarring your eardrums, merely your soul, and they do so with a consistent songwriting process that always evokes some manner of enjoyment. "I Denna Skog" itself is a slow, hammering black/thrash piece with simplistic riffs layered in Vinterfader's Varg like disgust, with some periods of tranquil, synthesizer calm. "Under Fullmånens Sken" opens like a Transilvanian Hunger outtake with added keyboard layer and a less harrowing production, with some dreary clean vocals ala Ulver forming in its latter moments. "Orostider" is almost exclusively this majestic, bleak atmospheric piece with excellent vocals, dreamy and catchy clean guitars textures, and "Fader Frost" teases the same before erupting into more of the sheer Northern might with heavy percussive samples hanging on the brink of perception. Most of the additional tracks are likewise noteworthy, such as the gentle "En Sista Vandring", the Yearning-like "Ett Sista Andetag", or the mead-hall charging hammer breaks and twangy processed clean guitars of "Av Jord Ar Du Kommen".

For a debut, this is impressively polished and diverse. No two songs sound quite exactly alike, though the segments can clearly be categorized into about 3-4 different cycles of mood: fast and standard black metal, slower bombastic Odinthrash, glorious melodic black/doom/folk, and cleaner sequences of pianos and clean guitars. Both of the members are also decent vocalists, from Vinterfader's aggression to Narstrand's tones reminiscent of I.C.S. Vortex or Trickster G. There's a psychedelic undertone to the album, and the band excel at subtleties expressed below the fore riffing. The use of samples as in "Orostider" is curious and welcome, and it appears the band have no qualms about carving anything that audibly fits into the landscape of forest and rock at the foundation of their being. I enjoyed this effort, and look forward to whatever the band can conjure in the future.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/drapsnatt