SVARTELDER - Trenches LP (Clear Vinyl)

There are a lot of black metal bands playing a too chaotic style for my personal taste. This is not the case with these Norwegian veterans as they perfectly know how to piece together all the elements to weave intricate yet highly enjoyable soundscapes. The listener will get hypnotized by dark and powerful themes and melodies. There is a great amount of melancholy defined by the guitar harmonies in each of the songs and by repeating some of those trademark lines in later sections the whole album gains a lot when being consumed in one go. There is a reason why the tracks are just named “I” to “VII” as together they are building one single piece of sinister art. That being said the individual songs are professionally constructed and while there is a lot going on there are enough hooks and clear song structures to make the music pretty easy to get into.