optisailor2002 Svarttjern was a chance encounter after discovering Ragnarok back in 2010 with the latter's album, Collectors of the King and the impressive vocal work of HansFyrste on the album. Listening to Svarttjern's 2009 debut full length release Misanthropic Path of Madness also left a deep impression, with the aggressive style of Norwegian black metal that was presented on the album, resulting in the keen awaiting of the band's new album, Towards the Ultimate, despite the cheesy sounding album title.

A haunting whisper greets the listener as the album opens with Breathing Soil, slowly building up that spine-tingling atmosphere and without warning the band begins their onslaught and while the guitar tone, the blast beats of Grimdun and the vocals of HansFyrste are immediately recognisable, one can't help but notice the more melodic direction that the band has taken, like a more trigger-happy version of Pestilential Shadows, with the somewhat depressive melodies in the riffs. HansFyrste's vocals, despite that usual gruff quality, has also adopted a somewhat more desolate style, with a tinge of desperation present in his vocal deliveries, making the songs on the album have a more sincere feel to them.

On top of the more melodic direction, there is an increased focus on the atmosphere in the music as well. While Misanthropic Path of Madness had a somewhat hollow feel to the music, Towards the Ultimate sees the band layering multiple guitars together to create a dense atmosphere, shrouding the music in a thick fog, giving the songs on Towards the Ultimate a fuller sound compared to its predecessor. And it is these factors that are a mark of the maturation in the band's songwriting, and instead of simply presenting a speed fest to listeners, the decision to go for a slower buildup also proves to be effective in its own way. That said though, the aggressive and more confrontational side of Svarttjern is still present, as evident on tracks like Hellig Jord and Superior Growth, which despite lacking the speed of the older materials sees the band , making up for it with heaviness with the punishing hits on the skins by Grimdun. Songs like I am the Path Part II even manages to retain some of that savage touch to the music, bringing fans of the band back to familiar ground.

Despite my personal preference for Misanthropic Path of Madness to Towards the Ultimate, this album has managed to display Svarttjern's growth as a band and as songwriters, with the more melodic approach to their brand of black metal, yet managing to retain that charm that gravitated me towards the band in the first place. The balanced style on Towards the Ultimate would ensure that old fans are not alienated, while at the same time drawing in new fans to the band.

Originally written for http://www.heavymetaltribune.com/

Time Signature Superior growth...

Genre: black metal

Svarttjern's "Towards the Ultimate" belongs to the more brutal end of black metal, although there are a lot of melodic moments on the album, too. The brutality on this album comes primarily from the influences from thrash metal and old school death metal, such as riffs with substance and groove, and the music is, for black metal endowed with a generous amount palm-muting.

There are, of course, the defining features of black metal, such as blastbeats, tremolo-picking, dissonance, tense harmonies, and so on. And the black metal elements are still dominant, but they are combined with the more thrashy and groovy elements such a way that Svarttjern's music becomes sort of varied and very headbanging friendly.

The production is clean and well-defined, but not polished, and that's great because you can actually hear what is going on without the production being so polished that it subtracts from the brutality and aggression of the tunes.

If you like acts like Mayhem and Immortal, then you might want to check out Svarttjern's "Towards the Ultimate".