hekseblad-kaermorhen-reviews

Review from Angry Metal Guy

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 18:04:35 +0100

From: Angry Metal Guy

Published: January 15, 2025

For those of you looking for that contemporary black metal album that captures the gloomy piss and vinegar of the 2nd wave 90s heyday, Kaer Morhen awaits. With lyrical themes set in the world of The Witcher, also a product of the 90s, Hekseblad owe much of their sound to the likes of Emperor and Gorgoroth. It’s not quite all pastiche, however, as the old-timey piano waltz segment of “A Grain of Truth (Nivellin’s Waltz)” and the organ grinder/harpsicord-ish melodies in “The White Flame” and at the end of the title track help throw the band’s serrated riff-craft into sharper relief. Closer “Vatt’ghern” even wanders through a stretch of atmospherics before bringing the record to a triumphant close.

Review from Blasted by Britton

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 18:03:54 +0100

From: Blasted by Britton

Published: December 19, 2024

Original Link

Wow and holy fuck! This album fucking rules! And it hits a bit home for me. Hailing from both Michigan and Massachusetts, Hekseblad came to me via Hypnotic Dirge Records from Portugal. Imagine my surprise while doing research about the band and album that Bruxa not only hails from my home state of Michigan, but he is from Durand, about 50 miles from my hometown of Caro, Michigan! Neat! The geography lesson is out of the way, so let’s get into the music contained on their first full length album, “Kaer Morhen”.

What we have here is very raw, yet atmospheric as hell Black Metal. Frosk seems to be a master of all of the instruments he used during the recording of this fine album. The guitars are at times fast and raw, and dissonant and sublime at others. The bass comes through very well and the drums are great. I have no idea if the drums are programmed, but if they are they sound very natural. There are some slow acoustic passages that are just beautiful and some amazing keyboard work. There are some folk melodies here and there too. The album has a very early 90’s Black Metal sound, but with a better production, which I will get to later.

Bruxa’s vocals are, and I hate to use this term here, grim. He has an excellent Black Metal sneer to his vocals, and I like that. His pacing and cadence are amazing and as brutal as the music is, his vocals are a thing to behold. Is there such a thing as brutal beauty? Yes, there is. In his vocals. Most or all of the lyrics are about The Witcher series, but as they are not included in the booklet, I can’t comment on them as much as I’d like. I love The Witcher. I have never read the novels, but I played 100 or so hours of The Witcher 3 on my PS5 and watched the Netflix series until they had that awful casting change!

The production is great, and the overall sound is brilliant. I love this kind of raw Black Metal that has a good production.

The cover art is absolutely perfect. Aghy R. Purakusuma painted it and it’s reminiscent of Necrolord’s art style. It’s all done in hues of purple and black and shows a scene from The Witcher where I assume Geralt Of Rivia is in the mountains, horse by his side, looking over a castle nestled into a forested mountain range. Very, very good artwork!

“Kaer Morhen” is an album that is so good that it will easily make my Top 10 of 2024 list this year. The band should be fucking proud of this album and if any of you readers are into Black Metal in the slightest, pick this up now! I hope we don’t have to wait too long for another album. I see both members have numerous other bands which due to the professionalism shown on this album I’m sure all are as great too.

As always, I ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists buy buying the physical copies of the albums you love.

Review from V-M Underground

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 10:41:05 +0100

From: V-M Underground

Published: May 9, 2024

Original Link

After a considerable amount of demo’s and EP’s that were released in the last couple of years, the American duo that together form Hekseblad thought it was about time to come up with their debut full-length album. Something that they must have been forging over the majority of 2023, a year that only saw the release of a very limited promo tape – which I was never able to hear, something that definitely paid off on ‘Kaer Morhen’.

Starting with the cover art, I am quite sure that many of you will have the same sort of first impression that I had when I first saw it. This breathes a certain Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin atmosphere at brings you back to Emperor’s ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’ or the classic Dissection, Dark Funeral and Sacramentum albums or maybe Ninkharsag’s latest offering (although not decorated by Wåhlin). For sure that was fully intentional as the music is not miles away from these genre-defining giants.

As I have been watching Hekseblad from their very start, see the reviews of their older material somewhere else on these pages, I can honestly say that this young duo has really outdone themselves on ‘Kaer Morhen’. Although especially the later recordings prior this album were already a good step up from earlier work, there was still some polishing and refining to do. Something that the band clearly succeeded in for a very large part on this album.

The cornerstones for ‘Kaer Morhen’ are definitely the more versatile parts of both the aforementioned Emperor and Dissection, yet they do tend to build more upon a basis of Folky structures instead of a thoroughly Heavy Metal-based fashion that especially the Swedes are known for. Just listen to the start of ‘The Taste Of Ash’ for instance, the influence of Dissection here is undeniable, but these more Folk inspired song structures do prevent it all from sounding too much copycatting. The versatile vocal approach is also something that puts Hekseblad a bit apart from their musical examples.

That diverse nature and the dynamics of the music, makes a slight comparison to the modern day heroes of Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal, Moonlight Sorcery, not too far-fetched. Yet, it might not be a surprise that Hekseblad has yet to further perfect their craft to be able to be measured against the likes of Moonlight Sorcery or even Ninkharsag. In comparison to some of their musical peers, ‘Kaer Morhen’ sound a little stuffy. The music would certainly benefit from a more clear and in-your-face sounding production, but overall the band is increasingly able to bring their musical capabilities to the light.

A tad long maybe, as a slower track like ‘The Fall Of The Northern Realms’ feels like a killjoy to the album’s natural flow, this debut album certainly lives up to the expectations set by the earliest recordings. In fact, they have surpassed them by a landslide. And judging from the presented new material and overall great song writing and musicianship, the end of their potential is not yet in sight.

Review from Invisible Oranges

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 10:34:50 +0100

From: Invisible Oranges

Published: May 9, 2024

Original Link

Netflix’s The Witcher series is set to conclude after its fifth season, and it seems like nobody will mourn its passing. It squandered Andrzej Sapkowski’s beloved book series, sparked unanimous fan umbrage, and destroyed Henry Cavill’s fanboy enthusiasm. You can see how it broke his heart by comparing how giddily he spoke about the show before it aired and his disappointment after he walked away from it. Of course, the television series wasn’t the only large-scale adaptation of The Witcher, with CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt igniting a flame in English-speaking countries that had largely ignored the series until that point. It was a Game Informer cover story featuring Geralt of Rivia ahead of The Witcher 3’s 2015 release that originally caught Bruxa’s attention, stoking the first flames of their love for Sapkowski’s original novels and the games and driving them to form Hekseblad alongside Frosk much later.

The US-based black metal duo began in the midst of the pandemic and debuted with their first EP, The Fall of Cintra, not long after in 2021. Three years later, they followed it with their first full-length album, Kaer Morhen, drawing its title from the stronghold Witchers retreat to during the winter to rest. The location holds some significance for Bruxa who spent most of their time writing the album in northern Ontario during the winter, where temperatures range from damn cold to punishingly cold. Yet, Bruxa still found comfort and community there that fostered a shelter of sorts, mirroring the exact solace Geralt and other members of the School of the Wolf draw from Kaer Morhen.

While it doesn’t bear many direct nodes to frigid climates, Kaer Morhen draws from two of the most celebrated and frosty black metal albums, Dissection’s Storm of the Light’s Bane and Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse. These influences meld quite well with The Witcher’s lore and its focus on isolation and humanity amongst tales of monster slaying, romance, and politics. Hekseblad’s lyrics retell Witcher stories that fit like a glove with melodic black metal that isn’t afraid to exert itself. So even though most listeners will approach Hekseblad because of their The Witcher iconography, they’ll soon realize the pair’s allure lies beyond it.

Hekseblad strings black metal’s innate evil sentiments through a stylized lens for grin-inducing results. Although the lo-fi vocals and wicked atmosphere are appropriate for the subgenre, Kaer Morhen possesses a nerd’s heart. It’s jagged and scowling and seemingly retreating from the light of day, but beneath its skin lays an ecstasy to convey Geralt’s tales. No track better captures this than “The White Flame” as it throws around all manner of dinky keyboards and Emperor-worshiping guitars without reservation. There’s also the title track that mirrors Kaer Morhen’s restorative abilities with folkish acoustic guitars and synths. Hekseblad howls their newfound strength through solitude and then displays it through a diabolic guest solo from Sörjande. It’s a little on-the-nose but fitting for Geralt, who is prone to outbursts despite his attempts to subdue his emotions.

There’s also a sense of humbleness that cuts through the album as if Hekseblad knows how ridiculous corpse paint and a wintery focus can be and only indulges it further. To reel away from it would reek of cowardice. By diving headfirst, Hekseblad conjure black metal’s might for narratively apropos cuts like the epic “Taste of Ash,” with Frosk as the principal architect. Their melodies and solos are Kaer Morhen’s primary engines, acting as lanterns through unlit pathways while Bruxa’s vocals remain fuzzy and obscured. The contrast between the two bandmates--one heroic and the other clandestine--are personifications of Geralt himself, a character whose moral compass drives him to act as a hero but who seeks no fame and sees himself as an outsider. On a more basic level, the balance also takes care of any potentially cheesy overtones while staying true to The Witcher’s themes and tone. Through it, Hekseblad has free reign to be as jubilant as they see fit without sacrificing any grit.

Review from Track to Hell

Tue, 07 May 2024 01:20:59 +0100

From: Track to Hell

Published: May 7, 2024

Original Link

Desde su formación en 2021, Hekseblad ha cautivado a la audiencia con una serie de demos, sencillos y EPs, incluyendo el aclamado “Fall of Cintra” del 2021.

Detrás de este proyecto se encuentra un dúo conformado por el vocalista y compositor Bruxa, conocido por su talento en el dungeon synth bajo el sello Wallachian Opulence Productions, y el multiinstrumentista y productor Frosk, quien también destaca por su proyecto homónimo de black metal y la banda de death metal, Frog Mallet.

Juntos, crearon un álbum con una atmósfera única que combina elementos del black metal, el dungeon synth y el ambient, con sonidos oscuros, épicos.

La voz de Bruxa, suena poderosa y emotiva que hace que el oyente se transporte a un mundo de sombras y fantasía.

Sean McCormack (Aka Frosk), el guitarrista, es una auténtica revelación. Su técnica depurada y su creatividad lo posicionan como uno de los mejores guitarristas del black metal independiente. La versatilidad del multiinstrumentista le permite explorar diferentes estilos dentro del género, desde los riffs más brutales hasta las melodías más atmosféricas.

“Kaer Morhen“, al igual que todas sus obras, se sumerge en el universo de The Witcher, transportando al oyente a un mundo de criaturas míticas, batallas épicas y brujos legendarios.

Las melodías oscuras y atmosféricas, conjuntamente con la voz rasgada y poderosa del vocalista, crean una experiencia sensorial envolvente que despierta la imaginación y te invita a explorar los recovecos de este universo fantástico.

La portada, una obra maestra de Aghy R Parakusuma, evoca la esencia del black metal clásico con sus tonos azules que nos recuerda a grandes obras maestras del black como puede ser “In the Nightside Eclipse” de los noruegos Emperor.

Hekseblad no solo crea música, sino que teje una experiencia inmersiva que conecta con la esencia de la fantasía oscura. Cada nota, cada verso, cada elemento visual te invita a embarcarte en un viaje épico a través de un mundo plagado de misterio y aventura.

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El disco arranca con “School of the Wolf” y la guitarra de Frosk toma el protagonismo de inmediato, tejiendo melodías épicas que se elevan sobre el rugido de la batería y los gritos guturales de Bruxa.

Un solo de guitarra particularmente memorable emerge como un faro entre la tormenta, mostrando la destreza técnica de Frosk y dejando un eco en la mente del oyente. La melodía es tan contagiosa que te encontrarás tarareando al ritmo, incluso en medio del caos que te rodea.

La siguiente pista, “Grain of Truth (Vals de Nivellen)“, continúa explorando el lado melódico de Hekseblad. El piano toma el relevo como protagonista, guiando la canción a través de un vals melancólico. Es un respiro momentáneo de la furia del black metal, pero no por ello menos poderoso. De hecho, la belleza contrastante del vals solo sirve para intensificar el impacto cuando la banda regresa a su sonido característico, con una ferocidad renovada.

El tercer track se titula “The White Flame” e inicia con un vals de piano de una belleza cautivadora, cuyas notas románticas se entrelazan con un sintetizador tenue, creando una atmósfera melancólica, de pronto, la guitarra líder irrumpe en escena, transformando el vals en un acompañamiento vibrante. La melodía se intensifica, dando paso a una cacofonía de black metal crudo y agresivo.

La canción navega por una variedad de ritmos y texturas, manteniendo al oyente en un estado de constante sorpresa y fascinación. Voces diversas, cargadas de emoción.

Sorprendentemente, esta canción había sido lanzada como sencillo en 2022. Su inclusión en el álbum es un regalo para los oídos, una oportunidad para redescubrir esta joya musical.

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La pista que titula el álbum, “Kaer Morhen“, nos embarca en un viaje fascinante a través de la dualidad que define a Hekseblad. La canción se inicia con una melodía suave y melancólica, interpretada por sintetizadores, una guitarra acústica y hasta que una flauta se une a la composición evocando la imagen de una canción folklórica que se escucharía en una taberna local durante un viaje por un mundo de fantasía. El ritmo es tranquilo y pegadizo, un contraste sorprendente con la agresión congelada y el terror de la oscuridad que caracteriza al black metal. La furia del género irrumpe, pero con una lentitud y una cadencia que la diferencian de la ferocidad habitual. Los riffs son pesados y atmosféricos, guiando al oyente por un camino de sombras y misterio. Las voces de Bruxa se tornan siniestras, susurrando palabras que parecen provenir de las profundidades de la tierra.

Para completar esta experiencia única, la pista cuenta con la colaboración de Sorjande, vocalista de la banda Mourning by Morning. Su voz se suma a la atmósfera etérea de la canción, aportando un toque de belleza y misterio aún mayor.

Es evidente el amor de los norteamericanos por las raíces del black metal. Se perciben influencias de bandas legendarias como Emperor, Dissection y Bathory, pero reinterpretadas con un toque personal y contemporáneo; sin embargo, Hekseblad no se limita a copiar el pasado.

El resultado es una mezcla única y original que desafía las expectativas y expande los límites del black metal.

Review from Blacforje Magazine

Tue, 07 May 2024 01:19:03 +0100

From: Blacforje Magazine

Published: May 5, 2024

Original Link

Hekseblad is a United States-based black metal artist who has been making waves in the scene due to their latest release, Kaer Morhen. If you’re a fan of Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher novel series, video games, or TV show, you might have caught that reference to the old keep where witchers train. Hekseblad focuses on melodic and vicious fantasy black metal inspired by the lore of The Witcher series and classic second-wave black metal artists.

The first song, “School of the Wolf,” instantly establishes how raw and gritty this album will be. However, the track also showcases what makes Hekseblad stand out: their more melodic and dynamic song structure. Gothic sensibilities are established in this first song and continue throughout the album.

“A Grain of Truth (Nivellen's Waltz)” sonically captures the portrayal of a cursed and misunderstood soul. The harrowing vocals, brutal blast beats, and riffs evoke a sense of empathy, while the somber piano break adds a layer of depth to the song’s conclusion. The following song, “The White Flame,” creates a chaotic atmosphere around a kingdom falling. This song continues to showcase Hekseblad’s unique blend of sounds and genres, featuring an excellent mix and synth. The song even surprises with an impressively woven thrash metal-inspired breakdown halfway through.

Given my taste for songs that are unashamedly heavy, groovy, and brutal, it’s no surprise that “The Taste of Ash” is my favorite track. There’s almost a thrash and melodeath influence in this track, but Hekselad maintains the sorrowful and rawness of the lore and landscape from which they draw lyrics about cursed immortality.

Transitioning the album through the instrumental track, “Ithlinne's Prophecy,” Hekseblad keeps Kaer Morhen interesting with the album’s title track. An intro of acoustic guitar and flutes creates a medieval folk atmosphere before booming guttural vocals and raw breakdowns take over the song. The band keeps some more mythical and splintering guitar solos sprinkled through this track with deep, stocky riffs, creating the sensation that you’re preparing for a dire quest like the song’s protagonist.

Kaer Morhen turns towards more epic territory in its final tracks, with “Mastercrafted” having steady riffs and ending with the sounds of steel and silver clashing on a battlefield. “The Fall of the Northern Realms” then laments the battle's devastated landscape with a slower, more sorrowful song. “Sodden” continues this theme and narrative of war with a return to blast beats and marching guitar riffs. Hekseblad ends the album strong with “Vatt'ghern,” which uses impressive synth work, various transitions to marching war chants, and even a lute breakdown. All of this works to capture its narrator’s never-ending tale of hardship and turmoil on an epic scale.

Hekseblad has shown immense creativity with Kaer Morhen, and there is a clear passion for not only the music production but also the lore and world-building of The Witcher. We are excited to see where the artist might take listeners next.

Reviewed by: Alex Hawkins

Review from Seelenfeuer666

Tue, 07 May 2024 01:17:20 +0100

From: Seelenfeuer666

Published: May 1, 2024

Original Link

Auf das erste komplette Album der amerikanischen BM Formation Hekseblad habe ich bereits sehnsüchtig gewartet und die Auskopplung einzelner Songs von „Kaer Morhen“ war fast schon gemein, denn dadurch wuchs die Neugier ins Unermessliche. Die letzten Tage nun erreichte mich „Kaer Morhen“, wenn auch nur in digitaler Version. Musikalisch bieten die Amerikaner sehr vielseitigen BM im atmosphärischen Sektor angesiedelt. Das Album umfasst 10 Songs mit einer Spieldauer von fast 50 Minuten. Erschienen ist das Werk über Hypnotic Dirge Records als Vinyl und CD Version.

Hekseblad dürften hierzulande noch nicht zu bekannt sein, dennoch haben die Amerikaner mit „Kaer Morhen“ ein spielerisches Brett veröffentlicht, welches nur so vor Vielfalt uns Atmosphäre strotzt. Black Metal trifft auf Heavy Metal oder so könnte man das Album beschreiben. Beindruckendend was die Band hier zelebriert, denn bereits nach wenigen Augenblicken zieht das Album den Hörer in seinen Bann. Ðie Produktion drückt mit Macht aus den Boxen und auch sonst finden sich keinerlei Schwächen. Ich hab ganz selten so ein kraftvolles und dynamisches Album wie „Kaer Morhen“ gehört. Das Album ist atmosphärisch und mitreißend zu gleich und bietet eine Menge an Feinheiten, die es zu Entdecken gilt. Beeindruckend findet ich auch die Kombination zwischen rauen und ungeschliffenen Passagen und dann sehr atmosphärischen Parts, nahezu in Perfektion. Mein persönlicher Anspieltipp des Album ist der Titelsong, der so vielfältig ist, dass er schon alleine ein gesamtes Album widerspiegeln könnte. Eine Hommage an Dissection sind die letzten beiden Songs („Sodden“& „Vatt’ghern“. Die Band hat auf jeden Fall noch mehr Potential und „Kaer Morhen“ wird bestimmt nicht das letzte Werk der Amerikaner sein.

Fazit: Wer auf der Suche nach einem vielfältigen und atmosphärischen Black Metal ist, sollte sich das Debütalbum „Kaer Morhen“ von Hekseblad in seine Sammlung stellen. „Kaer Morhen“ kann durch eine intensive Atmosphäre und seine spielerische Qualität Akzente setzten.

Rating: 5.5/6

Reviewed by: Mjöllnir

Review from Consequences Heavy

Tue, 07 May 2024 01:15:30 +0100

From: Consequences Heavy

Published: April 29, 2024

Original Link

Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher is such a suitable fit for black metal that it could have overtaken Tolkein’s lasting influence had it come out sooner. It certainly seems more relevant thematically, with Lord of the Rings focusing on mythology, rucking, and setting up camp to eat with your friends while The Witcher is about isolation, apathy, and how we define humanity. Hekseblad, the two-person black metal group, recognizes that on their debut Kaer Mohren and deliver ten tracks indebted to the source material. It’s dark and evil but in a Nosferatu-flickering-the-lights-on-and-off type of way. The thrill overtakes the content, which is something that occasionally gets tossed by the wayside when delving into evil second-wave worship. Hekseblad is a bit like Immortal in that sense — still true to the cult, but just plain fun to listen to. It’s black metal to show your dad.

Reviewed by: Colin Dempsey

Review from No Clean Singing

Tue, 07 May 2024 01:12:56 +0100

From: No Clean Singing

Published: April 21, 2024

Original Link

Now we come to the full album I mentioned at the outset, from a band whose music was new to me. Hekseblad is a duo consisting of Bruxa, a vocalist and songwriter from Michigan who handles the lore and storytelling of the duo’s music (aWitch’s Amulet, Fanged Imp, Bruxa, Oaken Palace), and Frosk (Frog Mallet, Groaning Retch), a multi-instrumentalist and studio owner from Massachusetts who handled the instrumentation and produced the album.

Their new album, Kaer Morhen, was released by Hypnotic Dirge Records two days ago. I’ll share this preview from the Bandcamp page:

Drawing lyrical inspiration from the works of Andrezj Sapkowski‘s beloved Fantasy franchise “The Witcher” and musically recalling the days of true Black Metal glory (namely the likes of Emperor, Dissection, Gorgoroth and Obtained Enslavement), Hekseblad delivers a furious and magickal take on the sound of late 90’s Black Metal; balancing on the edge of melodic but malicious with their furious barrage of riffs and tying it together with flourishes of Symphonic sorcery conjuring a maelstrom of frozen ferocity.

You might have already guessed at those named influences from the cover art created by Aghy R Parakusuma, which vividly recalls the seminal works of Kristian Wåhlin (Necrolord). And certainly, the music does recall the glory days of those mentioned bands, but it’s far from a re-hash or a clone.

The songs are elaborate and very well-written, providing rapidly changing experiences of fire and ferocity, sinister sorcery and primal seduction, imperial grandeur and unchained barbarism, ruinous despair and fleeting glory — all of them laced with memorable melodies and head-moving grooves.

What we might think of as the brazen and jolting chords of “classic heavy metal” are just as big an influence in the riffing as the standard tropes of second-wave black metal, and sweeping keys (judiciously used) add to the music’s aura of diabolical magic and menace. As for the vocals, well they bring to mind some creature that’s a hybrid of lycanthropes and vampires, with all sanity lost in the breeding process.

There are also plenty of surprises in store (spoiler alert), including the actual stately waltz that comes to the fore before “A Grain of Truth (Nivellin’s Waltz)” comes to a close; the haunting harpsichord melody that opens “The White Flame“, which then carries the melody forward with blazing intensity; the dancing orchestration in “The Taste of Ash” (a thoroughly exhilarating song); the mournful, ringing notes and murmuring bass that usher us into the sorrowful interstitial instrumental “Ithlinne’s Prophecy“; and the acoustic-guitar strumming and mysteriously drifting flute that open the title song before it explodes. (And don’t worry, I haven’t given away every surprise).

I could go on (and on, and on), but suffice to say, this album is a huge and very welcome surprise, and one that will keep you perched on your toes from beginning to end.

Review from Nine Circles

Tue, 07 May 2024 01:12:20 +0100

From: Nine Circles

Published: April 17, 2024

Original Link

Black metal often finds itself more suited for experimentation and pushing boundaries than other genres of extreme metal; just look at how much it has grown and transmuted in the 40 years since its arguable inception with Bathory’s debut. These countless iterations of the genre are all fine and good, but I’m always a sucker for bands that manage to recapture some of the magic of the second wave with enough modern flair to keep it fresh and interesting. After a series of demos and EPs dating back to 2021 Hekseblad have emerged with their debut full-length Kaer Morhen; this melodic black metal powerhouse is well-written, varied, and deliciously heavy — hopefully it marks just the beginning for this promising duo.

If the album art wasn’t making it obvious enough, Kaer Morhen is black metal heavily influenced by the likes of Emperor, Dissection, and other purveyors of the legendary Blue/Purple Album Cover™. The most striking aspect of the album upon first listen was the in-house production courtesy of multi-instrumentalist Frosk; fairly lo-fi, but in a dense manner that’s perhaps the best replication of the Nightside Eclipse sound that I’ve ever heard… no trebly buzzsaw guitars overpowering every other aspect of the sound here! This production serves to give an archaic aura that perfectly suits the subject matter, that of Andrezj Sapkowski’s “The Witcher” series. Regrettably I have little-to-no knowledge of that world aside from some cultural osmosis (all three games have sat collecting dust in my Steam library for untold years at this point), but fans will no doubt have a deeper understanding of the lyrics and song titles. What I can say is that the album is steeped in fantasy/medieval atmosphere, with plenty of acoustic guitar interludes, an apt string and piano waltz in “A Grain of Truth (Nivellen’s Waltz),” and a harpsichord intro in “The White Flame.”

Despite the similarity in sonic quality to In the Nightside Eclipse, musically Kaer Morhen is very much a melodic black metal album. Synths are often present, but serve as sound enhancers rather than a primary melodic component as you might get with a band like Arcturus or Odium — the meat and potatoes of Hekseblad are the lilting melodies, arpeggiated chords, and crushingly heavy riffs. While not as lead-driven and bombastic as Dödsrit’s incredible Nocturnal Will last month, there’s a definite callback to the glory days of heavy metal past in the twin-guitar melodies and shredding of the title track or the mid-tempo chugs of songs like “The Taste of Ash” and the appropriately titled “Master Crafted” — the latter in particular would surely make Quorthon break out the nasty riff face. The songwriting on display is very well done; individual songs have themes and motifs that repeat, but moment to moment there’s little repetition. Particularly impressive to my ears is the lack of reliance on modern post-black/atmoblack songwriting tendencies, i.e. some sort of clean guitar lull that builds up to an epic finish (nothing wrong with that, it’s just nice to hear something else for a change!) Single “Sodden” has one of my favorite transitions on the album: just three ascending notes played faster and faster (almost to the point of falling apart) before transforming into the next melody.

From the epic leads that open “School of the Wolf” all the way through to the rousing conclusion of “Vatt’ghern,” Kaer Morhen is chock full of more great riffs and melodies than some bands have in their entire discographies. While steeped in dark, fantastical atmosphere, Hekseblad aren’t afraid to both have fun and go absolutely ham with some of the riff and songwriting choices — this album is all the better for it. A damn fine debut, and one that may just herald the coming of the next brightest stars in black metal today.

Reviewed by: Colin