On …by the shadows… (Prophecy Productions), Norway’s Trelldom shows how Satan can find subtle ways to drag the listener into hell.
The Trelldom of 2024 is a far cry from the tremolo-picking and abrasive screaming of corpse-paint-wearing youths like Emperor or Mayhem back in the nineties (or indeed Trelldom themselves, as they were back then). The musical child of sometime Gorgoroth frontman Gaahl (Kristian Eivind Espedal), Trelldom has come a long way from their raw, abrasive beginnings.
The band’s first album since 2007’s Til minne…, …by the shadows is a mature, seductive kind of evil. Rather than the typical Black Metal shriek, Espedal here mostly delivers his vocals in a dark, gothic croon (something like Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy).
Musically, the insidious, ominous atmosphere is greatly aided by saxophonist Kjetil Møster, whose squealing bursts punctuate the record and pull the music into a jazzy, avant-garde realm that at times has the band resembling a King Crimson of the underworld. This is particularly effective when the music is in its thunderous storm mode (the other being a menacing stalk).
Blended in with the avant-garde Jazz leanings and Black Metal tone is a kind of Krautrock/Space Rock driving rhythm that the band rides on tracks like opener “The Voice Of What Whispers” and closer “By The Shadows.”
When the band chooses to glower out of the darkness, waiting to pounce (on tracks like “Exit Existence” and “Return The Distance”), there’s a sensuality to the music — with drummer Kenneth Kapstad and Stian Kårstad on guitars, bass, and electronics, building a noirish atmosphere that makes giving your soul to the dark lord feel all too inviting.
Wondering what inspired the album’s gothic tone, the track “I Drink Out Of My Head” offers some strong indicators that Swans (circa Children of God) has left a mark. Here not only is there the baleful Michael Gira-reminiscent howl of Espedal, but the remorseless pounding of the drums, like a waterfall of stones on the head of the listener, very much in the mode of Swans’ “Beautiful Child.”
…by the shadows… sounds like the outcome of Black-Metal aggression maturing into wicked seduction — a different means of stealing your soul. Not the sleazy, comic-book darkness of Rob Zombie, but more subtle and insidious; when furious Black-Metal spirits cultivate a love of Goth Rock and the avant-garde, I’m all for it.
Buy the album here:
https://www.trelldom.no/
8 / 10
TOM OSMAN
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