Vehemency Production-wise, truly successful and unique albums are hard to come by, but heck how impressed I am of Galdr’s eponymous debut offering. As soon as the introduction ”Winter and Life” ends and ”Futhark” kicks in the black metal, I can’t stop smiling throughout the next thirty minutes.

The key here is the hazy analogue production as cold as a blizzard, fitting into the wintry, mysterious and fairly melancholic black metal perfectly. Everything sounds distant and hence very evocative, reminding me of Orrery’s only album. Compositions follow the roots of dark, mid-paced Burzum, including the screams and various synths that appear every now and then, but not without Galdr’s own touch. Almost without exceptions, the tremolo-picked riffs are simply fantastic, enduring the repetition that they are given in these brooding atmospheric songs.

Without going into unnecessary details like ’that and that riff is amazing’, I can assure that Galdr is a great piece of atmospheric black metal, one of this year’s highlighs so far. It’s not for those who enjoy their black metal well-produced and downright aggressive; this album seems - according to me - rely heavily on frustration and sadness, yet not sounding like a depressive black metal album at all. Wholly recommended for those who enjoy their black metal in the Hvis lyset tar oss way.