Kvad – So Old (Raw Blackened Noise Metal)
Uh oh a black metal band from Norway? Will this be, perhaps, trite? If you see it on this site you know that’s never the case anymore! We don’t bother with negative reviews because if it’s not the best then screw it. We curate, we barely elaborate, that’s the standard. Kvad is much different in both approach and sound, and therefore, with an appearance on this site, something you should be listening to. You can always tell the good ones when you learn the craft. So Old was clearly different from the cover, which though thematically similar to general black metal art, is yet depressed and self-reflective. Further inside we find more distinguishing features sure to reawaken that 1990s you looking for that “holy shit what is this?” high.
I wondered at first if this was perhaps somewhat accidental because it works so well; it’s familiar, yet different and upon listening to earlier work it’s clear this line of musical thinking is in the guy’s beaten-down soul. Kvad’s version of black metal is incredibly noisy and agonized, yet highly produced through the thick of its clamor. Unlike the typical frostdaddies of the homeland, this isn’t a blizzard wall, it’s a grating kind of static covering over razor-fine riffing that slashes from the dark with a flash, and deep. The keyboard touches are slight, yet supremely eerie and decrepit, reinforcing the tone of the whole. And to bring it all to fruition the vocals are shrill, anxious, and spiteful while the unusual tone to the snare, in particular, sets a march-like standard to certain passages when things get more vicious. It’s something you almost don’t anticipate much new from, but upon listening, even for a moment, you realize it comes from someone skilled enough to morph the style into their own.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Kvad – So Old
Purity Through Fire
Cover Art: Greallach
4.7 / 5
