By Monk
Artists, inevitably, always have been inspired by their surroundings, the landscapes in which they grew up or which they subsequently found themselves inhabiting, the ultimate balance of nature and nurture, one complementing the other, each in harmony, counteracting and interacting with mutual respect, partners in sometimes enforced existence.
This symbiosis is perfectly exemplified in this maelstrom of symphonic darkness which has its sonic origins in the beautiful, bleak and brutal landscape of the Norwegian archipelago which historically served as the last stop-off point for Viking adventurers before they set out on their trans-Atlantic voyages of discovery – explorations which are echoed in this equally beautiful, bleak and brutal opus.
Emerging from a silent darkness that has lasted nigh on a decade, this ethereally enigmatic project, founded by former members of blackened folk metal projects Einherjer and Enslaved, Evig Natt have delivered an album that is equally ethereal and enigmatic, its multiple sonic elements conjoined and infused with a dense clarity that somehow manages to simplify its complexity into a beguiling, seemingly unaware simplistic, single entity.
While epic in its scope, combining massive orchestrations with behemothic black metal beatdowns, ‘Vaketimen’ is characterized by the deft lightness of its touch, with even its most forbidding, foreboding, intense moments delivered with a thoughtful sense of conjunction with those more melancholic ones whch in themselves are all the more impactful for their mutual composition.
As I said at the top of this review this is an album which is beautiful, bleak and brutal in equal measure. And it works beautifully, bleakly and brutally on each and every one of those levels, simultaneously shining light into the darkest corners and darkness into the lightest recesses of our experiences.
- ‘Vaketimen‘ is out now.
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