Vehemency
Released almost a year ago, I didn’t come across Arfsynd’s eponymoys debut album until recently - and luckily I did. Perditor’s (better known from Orcivus) another project offers riff-driven underground black metal that shows how to create tight evil riffage with some latent melancholy therein.
First of all, it’s the earthy, dry sound that lures me towards the album from time after time. No studio tricks and compressions to be spotted here; semi-lofi soundscape not unlike Vitsaus is what dominates, meaning that all necessary is audible and no extras. This plain sound might scare away some during the course of the six songs, but I would recommend to look properly into these riffs - as in the damn solidly executed intro riffs of ”Vid Syndaflodens Mynning” - that reek of authenticity. While the tempo is mostly kept between middle and slow (which is perfect for this discordant menace, and probably put to its best use on the 10-minute ”Sjalamassans Andalykt”) there are times, such as ”Blodsutgjutelse I Herrans Namn” imply, where the tempo is raised a little to create a nice dynamic range.
Arfsynd might not be laden with originality, but Perditor has most certainly crafted some very fine black metal off simple ingredients - the way I enjoy it most of the time. Do yourself a favor and check this out if you think likewise. The vocal delivery is another thing worth mentioning here as it’s not the most common high-pitched rasp; it is more in the vein of Dødsengel, meaning more emotion-filled moans and snarls of madness. Hopefully there’s some new material in the pipeline so that Arfsynd won’t be just a one-time project because there’s a load of talent to be found from here.