Vehemency
Aurvandil is a prolific atmospheric one-man black metal project of its eponymous member. Ferd is considered an EP though it runs for over 42 minutes during which the release presents wintry, hypnotizing black metal throughout, along with some minor folk influences of the first and last tracks (”Peregrination I” and ”Peregrination II”).
Whereas the music is prominently convincing in the melody department - especially when it comes to the simple synth mats contributed by Evilfeast that work like magic and e.g. the beginning of ”Through Hordanes Land” with all those cellos and acoustic guitars - I can’t help feeling that there’s a big lack of coherency in the production, much thanks to the programmed drums that don’t fit in. At all. It’s always such a headache to hear promising compositions that are ruined by cheap solutions in the final execution. Or how exactly am I supposed to get into the wintry mood when all I can think of is someone creating drum patterns by clicking at his ’Drumkit From Hell’ software in his bedroom?
Well, as implied earlier, Aurvandil does occasionally know how to create something awesome, one of the clearest examples being the ending of ”Still He Walks" where on the top of the sweet tremolo picked melancholic riff appears some well-done lead melodies. Also, the folkish intro and outro tracks bring some originality to the mix, which is nice. Vocals are in the usual raspy and somewhat high-pitched range, nothing to complain about those either.
Ferd doesn’t quite deliver the goosebumps inducing harsh coldness of Paysage d’Hiver; instead, the modern sound - mostly caused by the mechanized battering - has only a negative impact. The riffs alone are worth hearing nonetheless, and they’re given a nice amount of repetition in these long tracks, so from that perspective Ferd is an okay album that simply has some too evident symptoms of a bedroom project. Hence Ferd isn’t the record I’ll put on a chilly winter day but I might be returning to this album occasionally because of some of the good ideas presented therein.