…Or, if you believe everything you read on rock posters, 1967. I’m not exactly sure what that’s about, but then, that’s always half the fun when it comes to Ulver. They’ve made a career off delighting in the confusion of others, morphing from black metal into avant electro-ambient folk yet somehow remaining grimmer than anything that might dwell in the Scandinavian night forests. I for one look forward to their set being excellent and depressing as hell.

Here’s the latest from Roadburn‘s site:

Ulver‘s music career is a sonic kaleidoscopic epic that saw them start as a lo-fi black metal band, and then begin a continuous morphing through acoustic outsider folk, electronic ambient music, post-symphonic chamber music and electronic post-rock to their current sound which might be called goth, prog, electronic, experimental, art rock.

They are without question one of the most varied, unique and talented bands active today and Roadburn‘s colossally chuffed to welcome them to the 1967 edition of Roadburn, headlining on Thursday, April 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Ulver‘s latest record, War of the Roses, adds multi-instrumentalist Daniel O’Sullivan (Guapo, Æthenor, etc.) to the lineup and they are now a seamless amalgamation of the enormous spectrum of sounds that they have prospected during the last decade. It promises to be a wild musical ride at their 1967-performance, we can hardly wait!

EDIT: Justin K. Broadrick has also been announced as artist-in-residence for Roadburn 2012. He’ll do three sets over the course of three days. Leaf Hound will also perform the entirety of their 1971 classic, Growers of Mushroom. Dig the poster to prove it:

Tickets for Roadburn 2012 will go on sale Saturday, November 26, 10:00 Central European Time. There will be a 2 ticket limit (per order) for 3-day and 4-day passes and Afterburner tickets. The new 13% tax increase on concert tickets here in the Netherlands is included.

3-day passes will cost € 177,50 (1000 available), 4-day passes, including Afterburner will cost € 197,50 (1500 available) and single tickets for the traditional Afterburner event (headliner technical thrash metal legends Coroner) will cost € 32,50 (500 available). There will be additional service fees per ticket. More info on tickets for Roadburn Festival 2012 here.

In related news: Anekdoten, Bongripper, Dopethrone, Fleshpress, Gnod, Necros Christos, Necro Deathmort and Spiders have also been confirmed for Roadburn Festival 2012.

Blues-rocking Norwegian four-piece Lonely Kamel make their debut on Napalm Records (who, with Monster Magnet, Karma to Burn and Brant Bjork already on their roster, are becoming quite the purveyors of the riffy arts) with Dust Devil. The name sounds like a handheld vacuum cleaner, it’s true. Contrary to such appliances though, Dust Devil doesn’t suck. Rather, Lonely Kamel come off like graduates from the University of Roadsaw (with a minor in Sixty Watt Shaman), infusing loud, driving heavy rock with a sensibility straight off the Delta.

There’s varying levels of that inflection throughout Dust Devil, but these veterans of Roadburn, Stoned From the Underground and Duna Jam — they clearly have their Eurofest credentials in order — handle it with smoothness and ease, right from the sliding ’70s classicism of opener “Grim Reefer” to the Clutch-esque fuzz groove of “Ragnarörkr.” The only real challenge in picking a track to stream was trying to find one that summed everything up.

In the end, I went with “The Prophet.” At about five and a half-minutes, you get the bluesy side of the band through guitarist Thomas Brenna‘s vocals and the heavy rock of the rhythm section of bassist Stian Helle and drummer Espen Nesset. Rounded out by Lukas Paulsen on guitar and backing vocals, Lonely Kamel impress right up to the song’s surprisingly noisy finale. Even there, though, the groove is paramount.

Lonely Kamel‘s Dust Devil is due out Oct. 28. Here’s “The Prophet,” followed by some bio info courtesy of Napalm Records‘ site:

Blues, grooves, and a bottle of booze! Stoner rock! Lonely Kamel‘s third album proves once again that it is absolutely not necessary to be surrounded by desert sands and cacti in order to produce genuine stoner rock. The four Norwegians are living proof of this fact, and don’t stop there. With the release of Dust Devil, they unquestionably provide the genre with a refreshing brand of unrelenting and passionate dedication. The opening two tracks, “Grim Reefer” and “Evil Man,” reveal the road on which Lonely Kamel will travel.

It offers much more than typical stoner riffs and captivating rhythms, adding sing-along choruses and hypnotic melodies to its winding course. Short trips to the world of blues and psychedelic round off this unforgettable journey by ensuring a welcomed change of pace. Dust Devil is the Nordic alternative to the desert sands, and for fans of the stoner rock genre a definite must-have!

The well-received Norwegian four-piece Spirits of the Dead released their self-titled debut in 2010 to what was – if the extensive collection of press quotes is anything to go by – considerable fanfare. The follow-up to said debut arrives in the form of The Great God Pan (North American release by The End Records), a short but memorable full-length collection of six engaging tracks that hones in on early-‘70s pagan folk with just a hint of dark undercurrent lurking beneath the melodic sweetness. Unlike many other retro acts, Spirits of the Dead aren’t just trying to ape a specific style or one band in particular’s aesthetic – i.e. the way early Witchcraft so directly took on Pentagram. Rather, The Great God Pan is traceable on a more vague level, culling some of its layered lead work from Tony Iommi in its final moments, but progressing as a whole along altogether different lines, and most importantly, taking the retro or otherwise familiar elements of which it’s composed and creating something fresh from them. There is a calmness to The Great God Pan that comes through in its bright tonality, and like the best of their genre, these songs are viewed as though from a grainy, sun-flared photograph.

But though they obviously dwell in a secret forest of krautrock LPs and obscure folkadelia (they have secret forests in Oslo, right?), Spirits of the Dead aren’t limited to retro posturing either. The ringing clarity of the acoustics that begin The Great God Pan opener “Mighty Mountain” and the ensuing distorted guitar revving both sound entirely modern. Guitarist Ole Øvstedal shows restraint throughout the album, and “Mighty Mountain” is just the first instance of it, as the electric guitar again cuts out to acoustic sway, coming back only for a simple start-stop progression in the chorus. Frontman Ragnar Vikse leads the drama of the verses, and proves to be more than capable of taking charge of a song in the classic tradition of the standalone singer. Even with Øvstedal playing a multi-layered lead under, it’s his repetition of the titular chorus line – he’s almost chanting it by then; far back in the mix and echoing – that has the listener enraptured. Drummer Geir Thorstensen keeps to rim shots and jazzy hi-hat/ride interplay for most of “Leaves of Last Year’s Fall,” which is among the more woodland psych of The Great God Pan’s tracks in terms of its atmosphere. Vikse’s voice is deft and almost molten in its ability to jump from note to note, and with the subtle fills of bassist Kristian Hultgren playing out under Øvstedal’s gorgeous leads, there’s a touch of class brought into the song that’s complemented – not undercut – by the somewhat foreboding progression of the bridge. Spirits of the Dead affect a decent build and chaotic payoff, but never meander too far from the straightforward structures on which their material is built.

It’s with “Pure as the Lotus” that The Great God Pan gets its first real injection of ritual. The cut – second in length only to the closer at 6:22 – begins with hard thuds from Thostensen topped with a fuzzy riff from Øvstedal and incantation ah’ing from Vikse, and it’s a clear change in atmosphere from first two songs, the underlying darker vibe of “Leaves of Last Year’s Fall” coming to the fore for the introduction. The single hits of percussion remain a focus and the melody is rounded out by sustained organ in the verse, and the chorus opens more widely into forest worshiping grace. There’s a development to the track that the insistence of Thorstensen and Hultgren’s rhythm helps highlight, but Vikse’s melody seems to be in a world of its own, which helps set up a duality that joins back together as the intro is revived in the song’s back half, leading to a hypnotic, guitar-led instrumental break that eventually fades out on the chorus. Like a lot of The Great God Pan, “Pure as the Lotus” is built around melodic quirk and a heavy dose of personality, but there’s a solid structural foundation underneath. That remains true for the softly-cooed exclamatory title-track, “The Great God Pan!”

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Triply-guitared Norwegian outfit Kvelertak made a serious impression with their self-titled debut full-length, released last year on Indie Recordings. Enough of an impression so that Brooklyn’s The End Records came in with a bid for a US release of the six-piece’s Norwegian-language album, which they issued with six bonus tracks (presumably one for each member of the band) of demos and a live session at the BBC. The resulting “new” album is 17 tracks and 73 minutes long – a beast by almost any measure – even if Kvelertak’s sound wasn’t so drenched in vitality and ghastly relevance. The band, who’ve been hailed over the world for their creativity and for whom the hype has been not so much palpable as claustrophobia-inducing, blend a variety of genres across their original 11 studio cuts, touching on black metal, new school beardo stoner, screamo punk and party metal, with a Viking reference or two thrown in. There are parts that just begging for thousands of clapping hands at insert-European-festival here and parts that evoke a woodsy misanthropy, so Kvelertak is nothing if not running a wide gamut of influences.

That works to their benefit on these tracks, as each new reference that pops up is well blended into the context of an overall Kvelertak sound, and even in its darker moments, the upbeat energy of the record – perhaps its most infectious element – is maintained. With six members in the band, there’s room for a slew of backing vocals, gang chants and arrangement tweaks, and at times vocalist Erlend Hjelvik isn’t so much just screaming overtop of riffs has he is conducting a choir of shouts. As one would have to expect, solos abound. The guitars of Bjarte Lund Rolland, Maciek Ofstad and Vidar Landa trade off harmonies and leads, and there are songs that can be overwhelming for how much they have going on, but thanks to the work of Hjelvik, bassist Marvin Nygaard and drummer Kjetil Gjermundrød, the album is never completely out of control and an overarching flow is achieved. Despite the reckless sound of the band, the raucous nature of the material and the fact that opener “Ulvetid” starts out with a gang chant of the band’s name and closer “Utrydd Dei Svake” closes with one (at least lyric-wise), Kvelertak is neither dumb nor out of control. They know exactly what they’re doing here, and that counts among their several key assets.

At the most basic level, Kvelertak rocks. In almost every sense you can think of, the album is a collection of driving, uptempo tracks that – I’ll say it again because I don’t think it can be stressed enough – are so frantic they almost emit light. Captured in the studio by Kurt Ballou of Converge, the hardcore side of the band comes through in an aura of band solidarity. “Ulvetid” (which translates to “Hunting Time”) seamlessly melds punk and black metal in its layers of guitar, and Hjelvik is either to affect either style in his screams. Immediately, the record draws you in, and the Orange-hued opening riff of “Mjød” only drives that point further home. Despite being the shortest track on the album, “Mjød” is also one of the most memorable for its chorus, which, speaking no Norwegian, I still wanted to sing and clap along with. That track’s punk elements are to the front, but “Fossegrim,” which follows, starts off with a verse riff straight out of Norway’s blackened lineage. Where Kvelertak get into putting their stamp on it is just after 1:20, when the song breaks to just the guitar (sounds more like keyboard), taking the progression someplace completely differently before a solo/breakdown section and squibblies keep the guitars busy as Gjermundrød – to his credit – not only manages to keep up with the deluge of changes, but actually establishes a groove in each part and keeps the song moving.  One could hardly blame him if his head had exploded two minutes into the track.

“Blodtørst” is memorable for bringing in an acoustic-led break (punctuated by steady bass drum kicks) in its midsection, refusing even then to let go of the momentum the band has established. Everything on Kvelertak happens fast, and that’s part of what makes the record so exciting. It’s telling you to keep up with it if you can, and I think that part of the reason the band has had such success around the world is their being able to stay heavy in the traditional sense – fast, loud, dense tonality – while also working the punk accessibility into their sound. It’s a winning formula across this album, and I’d be surprised if others didn’t pick it up as a tactic in the future, the same way Torche’s brand of melodicism seems to have become universal these days among newer-school doomers. Kvelertak – with their John Dyer Baizley (Baroness) cover art, Kurt Ballou production and, now, specific American release – definitely have their sights on an international market, and going by the reaction Kvelertak has received, rightly so. As the riffy break in “Offernatt” – a place where Nygaard most makes his presence known on bass – fades into the classic rock opening of “Sjøhyenar (Havets Herrer),” it’s increasingly clear Kvelertak have something special going on sound-wise. Call and response vocal interplay on “Sjøhyenar (Havets Herrer)” results in one of the album’s most definitively punk moments, but again it isn’t long before the band changes it up with more acoustic guitars and a straight-ahead rocking chorus.

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Sometimes this album is so beautiful it hurts. The melodic breaks, the interplay between Herbrand Larsen‘s and Grutle Kjellson‘s vocals, the keyboard flourishes, the pounding heaviness of it. I know there are a couple really amazing progressive black metal bands out there — Deathspell Omega and Blut Aus Nord come to mind — but for me, nothing tops Enslaved, and Axioma Ethica Odini might be the bravest album they’ve made in their 20-year career.

You could sit for a week and parse every second and still not manage to capture it. I remember the first time I listened, I was just so happy it didn’t follow a similar production course to that of 2008′s Vertebrae, but it wasn’t until I really dug into Axioma Ethica Odini that the scope of the thing became clear. The first half of the record is your pretty typical Enslaved material — still better than, oh, everything else in its genre — but Side B’s prog overload really pushed Axioma Ethica Odini into the upper echelon of 2010 releases for me. It’s another one of those albums I just can’t seem to leave home.

Even listening to it now to write this, I’m distracted by the fucking brilliance of the album (among other things). The chorus of “Lightening” gives me a chill up my spine every time, and even a song like “Singular,” which I didn’t fully appreciate when I reviewed the record, has grown on me to the point where I’ll put Axioma Ethica Odini away for a day or so, then stop and say to myself, “Why the hell am I not listening to Enslaved?” And you know what the answer is? The answer is I put on Enslaved. Constantly.

Yeah, I’d call the new Obelisk Forums a win for the number of people signed up, posts posted and awesome pictures of birds making pasta, but more so, because (thanks to user diasdegalvan) I’ve found a new band to dig on. They’re called Brutus and they’re Norwegian. I thought I’d share the clip below in case anyone else didn’t catch it in General Discussion or hasn’t signed up for the forums yet.

The young Norwegian four-piece Buckaduzz — whose name, if you haven’t yet, you should really take the time to say out loud because it’s just so much fun – make their recorded debut with the self-released three-song CDEP The Big Slow. Their mix of noise and stoner influences comes out right from the start, and it’s apparent in listening that Buckaduzz are still trying to figure out where they want to be in terms of their sound, but in the meantime, they’ve managed to come up with some killer, sans-bullshit rock, which, in its final moments, even offers up a surprise in terms of how complex the band wants to be. The proverbial “good start.”

In a way, the first 10 seconds of opener “Aquanaut” tell the whole tale of The Big Slow. The thick, fuzz guitars of Sondre Mæland and Markus Lie Andersen lead the charge into the track, and they remain a leading focus for the EP’s 22:39 duration, bassist Ole Rokseth and drummer Martin Gerlyng having no trouble keeping up but never really taking the fore, even on the more rhythmically-centered second track, “Gunslinger.” The starts and stops would seem to be a rhythmic key, but I’d argue that song, which towards its close reminds more of the modern House of Broken Promises style of accessible riffage than the angry Dozer/Greenleaf vibes I got off the opener, is even more about the interplay between Mæland and Andersen, the throaty growls of the former adding an even more aggressive immediacy throughout.

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I was the last in line for phoners during Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson‘s recent weekend press day to discuss his band’s latest album, Axioma Ethica Odini (review here), and as such, I expected that by the time he got around to me, he’d probably want little more than to go get a sandwich, go to the bathroom, or at very least, talk about anything other than Enslaved, the record, touring or any of it. It was a thrill to find out how mistaken I was.

Axioma Ethica Odini, rich in its sound, complex in its execution and boasting moments of unparalleled progressive extremity, is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of this very diverse year. It is Enslaved‘s 11th and follows 2008′s Vertebrae, which I felt was held back by its production, and in particular by the mixing job of Joe Barresi (Tool‘s 10,000 Days, Queens of the Stone Age, Clutch, etc.). Though he was quick to correct my impression, Bjørnson noted as well the less than ideal sound of that album, and as Axioma Ethica Odini was recorded by the band themselves in the home and professional studios owned by the five members of Enslaved — Bjørnson, fellow founder bassist/vocalist Grutle Kjellson, lead guitarist Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal, keyboardist/vocalist Herbrand Larsen and drummer Cato Bekkevold — and mixed by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street in Sweden, one can imagine some change in approach was intended.

Whatever they did, it worked. On the cusp of their 20th year, Enslaved triumph with Axioma Ethica Odini in a way I don’t know if they ever have before. Sure, their oldest material is heralded as being centrally influential among the Viking and black metal sets, but from where I’m sitting (not there, basically), their even more important work began with the incorporation of prog elements on 2001′s Monumension and was built on for subsequent offerings, Below the Lights (2003), Isa (2004), Ruun (2006) and even the aforementioned Vertebrae, which given different production might have even surpassed its landmark predecessors.

Not that I’d do any better — or get past “hello” — in his native language, but there were some parts of the interview I couldn’t quite make out in the transcribing process, and a crappy phone line didn’t help, but I did the best I could to put together the most complete Enslaved interview possible. In the Q&A that follows the jump, Bjørnson discusses the Axioma Ethica Odini recording process, writing during the summer, Enslaved‘s four-show stint at Roadburn this year, and much more.

Hail Norway.

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Bordering on two decades together, Norwegian black metal pioneers Enslaved push their progressive tendencies even more to the fore on their 11th studio album, Axioma Ethica Odini (Nuclear Blast). Their legacy having grown increasingly over the course of the last 10 years with excellent albums like 2003’s Below the Lights, 2004’s Isa, 2006’s Ruun, and most recently, 2008’s Vertebrae — which I’d gladly argue was held back by production issues despite songwriting as accomplished as ever — distributed more widely in the US and with more and more acts taking a prog approach to extreme metal, Axioma Ethica Odini finds Enslaved taking on the role of seasoned veterans. Their heyday is by no means behind them, either creatively or in terms of fanbase, but they’re an experienced band, they know what they want from their sound. That they’re still growing as players is something of a bonus.

That growth, most obvious in the clean vocals of keyboardist Herbrand Larsen, who joined the band full-time after Below the Lights, is readily on display throughout Axioma Ethica Odini. In many ways, it’s a tale of two albums, with two sets of four tracks, divided by a centerpiece interlude, each showcasing a different side of the band. Both are heavy, to be sure, but the wide variety of personalities shown throughout, and the bent toward experimentalism on the back half of Axioma Ethica Odini, makes the difference clear. One constant throughout is Enslaved’s unmistakable quality of vocal arrangements. Bassist/founding member Grutle Kjellson’s signature rasping screams, left too dry and too forward on Vertebrae, are as throat-searing as ever and punctuated by deathly backing growls and echoes. Opener “Ethica Odini” establishes a full production sound and shows Enslaved haven’t lost the edge or the drive toward extremity that made their early work in the ‘90s so powerful.

They get into a pattern between “Ethica Odini” and follow-up “Raidho” of breaking through the thrashing madness — and here I’ll note the killer tones captured in the guitars of Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal and band co-founder Ivar Bjørnson — for keyboard led prog breaks, during which Larsen takes the lead over Kjellson vocally, but it doesn’t last long. “Waruun” almost reverses it, keeping the music behind Larsen’s parts heavy in proportion to the other pieces of the song to establish more of a flow. This way, a strong opening of what fans would expect from modern-day Enslaved is given, but the band moves quickly to show they have more than formulaic songwriting on offer. “Waruun” boasts another excellent vocal arrangement, and if heavy music has ever raised the hairs on your arm or sent a shiver down your spine, it’s bound to do it here as well. The shortest of the “regular” (non-interlude) tracks at 5:38, “The Beacon” might also be the most extreme. Opening with blastbeats from drummer Cato Bekkevold, the song moves from an abrasive verse to a melodic chorus in a way not so much different from much of latter-day metal, but the production, vocals, guitar leads and angular break distinguish it. As it transfers back to the verse and again through the chorus one last time, it feels like a closer, which only heightens the transition into the interlude “Axioma” and further distinguishes the two pieces of the record.

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I have it on authority from Walter himself that these are the last of the Roadburn 2010 audio streams, so get ‘em while they’re hot. I’ve kept up the best I can with what’s been posted from this year’s festival, but if you think there’s anything you might have missed, the whole collection of streams is available here. If you’re bored at work or have 55 or more hours to kill, they’re a great way to go.

The last two streams are Enslaved and Dream of an Opium Eater, which features Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson, whose pretty mug accompanies this post.

Listen in good health:

Enslaved live at Roadburn 2010

Dream of an Opium Eater live at Roadburn 2010

Norwegian legends Darkthrone and I have something in common: We both couldn’t give less of a fuck about the legacy of black metal. Though with earlier albums like Transilvanian Hunger and A Blaze in the Northern Sky, they helped shape that the genre would become in the ‘90s and beyond, the duo of vocalist/guitarist/bassist Nocturno Culto and drummer/vocalist Fenriz have morphed into an oldschool punk/metal wrecking crew, giving nods to Trouble and obscure/classic ‘80s speed metallers along the way.

Their oppositional stance to press, playing live and (occasionally) their own fans has made Darkthrone a pariah in the world of underground metal, and I doubt very much they’d have it any other way. As on their more recent albums, F.O.A.D. (2007) and Dark Thrones and Black Flags (2008), the latest, Circle the Wagons (Peaceville), was composed half by Fenriz and half by Nocturno Culto, and contains the barebones stuff of heavy metal hunger. Imagine being in a band for 23 years and still sounding as ravenous as though you were just releasing your first demo.

What’s most striking about Circle the Wagons opener “Those Treasures Will Never Befall You” is how produced it is. Of course, it’s all relative, but compared to Dark Thrones and Black Flags and F.O.A.D., which basically sounded as live and lo-fi as you can get, Circle the Wagons starts off sounding polished. I chalk it up to the added experience the band has recording themselves and maybe some new equipment at Necrohell Studios, where they make all their albums. Nonetheless, the song — a Fenriz composition — feels like the duo are starting to develop within this still basically new stage of their career, beginning to evolve within their punk/metal sound. The vocals are a little more complex in their arrangement, and on the whole it comes off as less reckless than some of their output in the last few years. It’s an interesting development.

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The PR wire owns your soul with this news about new Darkthrone. They rule and have an influence on underground rock farther reaching than any genre tag you want to saddle on them, so yes, the album will be covered here. If that makes me a hipster poseur loser whatever, I’ll gladly refer you to the banner at the top of the page and hope that clears up the argument.

Here’s the info:

The unrelenting Norwegian duo, Darkthrone, will welcome a new decade with a new album, to be released on Peaceville Records. Circle the Wagons, a creative feast of metal and punk, will initially be released on vinyl on March 8th, through the Peaceville Records webstore, as an exclusive taster for the legions of metal supporters out there who still care about great music delivered the classic way. The vinyl will also include a link to download a digital version of the album, which will be available when the regular and special edition CD versions of the album are released on April 6th.

Circle the Wagons was self-recorded at Necrohell II Studios. Artwork for the album comes once again courtesy of Dennis Dread, notable for his talents on previous Darkthrone albums, F.O.A.D. and 2008’s Dark Thrones and Black Flags.

Drummer/lyricist, Fenriz explains the meaning behind the title…

“The new metal decade starts with our album. It is a message to the invaders of our metal domain to circle their wagons!  With our own brand of heavy metal/speed metal-punk we are a constant ambush on the modern overground metal traitors. Join us in our fight against instant gratification, and let’s see who stands when the smoke clears.”

Track listing:
01. Those Treasures Will Never Befall You
02. Running for Borders
03. I am the Graves of the 80s
04. Stylized Corpse
05. Circle the Wagons
06. Black Mountain Totem
07. I am the Working Class
08. Eyes Burst at Dawn
09. Bränn Inte Slottet

Oh sure, I’ve serenaded the dusky welkin with the occasional anthem, I’ve been disciplined in fire and demise, I’ve enjoyed the periodic nightside eclipse and even [insert something clever about the self-titled Emperor album here], but there is a fandom cult league for highly influential Norwegian black metallers Emperor to which I simply don’t belong. Not that I can’t or don’t appreciate the records, I just don’t salivate like a Pavlovian dog at the mere mention of their titles.

Accordingly, I feel in some strange way qualified to review After, the third post-Emperor solo outing of frontman Ihsahn (né Vegard Sverre Tveitan). I’m familiar with his work, but not masturbatingly so; having heard both 2008’s angL and 2006’s The Adversary, it’s possible to have some sense of what he’s done since Emperor’s disbanding and what exactly he’s changing up with After. You know, other than throwing in some free jazz saxophone and that kind of thing.

Ihsahn, who also recorded After in his Symphonique Studio, still plays with the melodies and progressive death metalisms he showed on angL, it it’s not until the title track, third of the total eight, that that side really shows up. The first two tracks, “The Barren Lands” and “A Grave Inversed” — the latter featuring that aforementioned free jazz saxophone — are righteously heavy and nearly if not completely blackened metal. Even on “After,” Ihsahn’s vocals morph into his trademark throaty approach, although they do so over an angular Opethian riff with single notes layered before shifting back into a melodic chorus. Nothing’s ever the same.

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