Svartsyn – In Death (Qua Black Metal)
I think I’ve been disappointed by Agonia Records on a single occasion only, but this isn’t why I haven’t looked at them in awhile. The real reason is a number of the bands they carry are so huge I typically don’t pay attention to the promos past a listen, in spite of how good they can be, because little old me isn’t necessary for their success. I work with the stuff no one else does, or few do, or which I think are below me. Now, Svartsyn I’ve definitely heard of, and I’ve heard that nasty little world “kvlt” thrown around too, which, typically, causes me to ignore whatever the album or band is entirely (see this site’s tag-line please). Have to live by that standard. This latest one from the band, which is pretty much a single musician now, has got me thinking I might want to check out the rest of the discography, and ignore that kvlt thing. I can be wrong, sometimes. Actually, not often. In fact I’m not really wrong here, just stubborn.
In Death rips. I could stop there, but I need more site content for the search engines, duh. Now, something I’ve said before needs stated again. There is nothing new here. This is black metal, and please read the title of this particular article again. See the qua? Yeah, this is qua. It has absolutely no dandy qualities, no cravat, it sinks into the crowd. But it’s like that one person in the crowd you take a chance at getting to know for lack of anything else ot do, and afterwards you’re like “there’s just something about him/her…” Svartsyn proves an absolute command of the Swedish black metal scene. The riffs and epic quality, through generally light touches of orchestration, are stellar. “Seven Headed Snake,” for example, sells the entire album alone. Just skip to the 3:50 mark and you’ll see what I mean. That, right there, is one of the best black metal passages ever written. If that bit was the whole album, I’d be done. Thankfully, though, in spite of this one being the clear winner, the rest of In Death is never overshadowed by it, a mistake I often see. With long claws it flays your ears, and with its barbed tongue cleans out your brain of all the black metal filth you’ve been wasting your time on. Of course it didn’t get a full-site review here, but its only failing is a lack of pushing boundaries. It doesn’t need to, trust me, it can survive on being qua.
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Svartsyn: In Death
Agonia Records
4.4 / 5
