All music written by Svartadoden 2011
Lyrics written by LIK in 2019, except "Visions af Hels Prakt" by Svartadoden
Guitars recorded in 2011 / drums, keyboards, and vocals recorded in 2020
All layout, photos, and paintings from 2006-2010
The fourth album of the Swedish black metal act Bekëth Nexëhmü turns out to be the band's most lyrical release to date. No typical aggressive blast beat-laden black metal sections can be found here, the whole work is sustained in a consistent slow tempo or at least in a mid-tempo, the number of acoustic guitar insertions is simply unthinkable, well, if we talk about the average black metal album, and let's not forget about the keyboards. Of course, both Ulver (yep, "Kveldssanger") and Summoning (though to only a lesser extent) come to mind, but not to mention a certain amount of its own originality, "De evigas gravrit" has too strong (true) black metal attitude unlike the two mentioned bands, while the manner of playing is simpler after all. Nevertheless, judging by the overall emotional effect of the album, it's something like that.
Filled with melancholy, "De evigas gravrit" often turns into gentle soothing music, yes, sometimes it is a real lullaby. Well, if you prefer the romantic appeal of a snowy forest, then this is also suitable. Anyway, one single "Under ondskans tecken" starts in a very dynamic way, right, unusually dynamic for this album, but this intention does not go beyond the beginning. In its turn "I frostens kyla" has a chance of getting an acceleration at the end, but it doesn't happen again, the only thing we get here is some kind of rage surge. Yes, it's very emotional work. Frequent pauses and stops in the songs' texture also do not break the overall melancholy of "De evigas gravrit" – it's all very monotonous, but it's not boring at all.
The story behind "De evigas gravrit" somewhat clarifies the picture. The point is that the guitars were recorded back in 2011, i. e. this stuff could become the second album after the debut "De dunkla herrarna" (2011, recorded back in 2010), however the drums, keyboards and vocals were recorded just recently in 2020. Quite a strange manner, but in this case it worked, at least to some extent. There is something interesting in this kind of production.
Already the second song "Vid dödens rike" clearly demonstrates (the intro "Köldens storm" is not so significant in this respect) that the drums are rather an element of the arrangement than part of a rhythm section, that Bekëth Nexëhmü colour their music with them. In a slow and monotonous atmosphere, guitars and keyboards seem to dare not add any variety: their parts are simple and repetitive, while riffs change inconspicuously. Only drums change their pattern egregiously: as soon as there is a change in the canvas of the song, intense breaks come in. However, of course, they are far from swift and sophisticated, in the general atmosphere of the album they look more like some kind of timpani surrogate.
This is not the case for every song. For example, there are almost no drums in "Blodskammets guld", this almost pure ambient black metal piece. Perhaps they would only interfere with these elegant keyboards and "tired" acoustic guitar. By the way, thanks to the vocal part sometimes this song is similar to most post black metal passages on "Dictius Te Necare".
Another good example is "Vargens stig evigt vandra", without a doubt the most interesting song on "De evigas gravrit". Diverse drum breaks not only mark the development of the song here, but also pump up the atmosphere. In its turn "Under ondskans tecken" is notable for a stumbling drum section like it's some crazy waltz. This is perhaps the most avant-garde song on the album, the post black metal attitude looms here more clearly. And this feeling of modern touch becomes even stronger in the penultimate "Vision af hels prakt".
Yes, the drums take the lead in the mix, they are certainly too loud, as well as, by the way, the high pitched shrieking vocals – the guitar is almost drowned out by them. So this poor guitar with its stylistically suitable raw sandy sound almost does not attract attention, that's why we can say that more often we are dealing with ambient black metal, and not with atmospheric black metal. Despite the ambient essence of "De evigas gravrit", the tremolo picking lead line is quite a frequent guest on the album, right, as it should be in canonical atmospheric black metal, but again, the lead guitar with a lot of effects gets lost in the mix by everything else, so most often it can be made out with difficulty or even confused with keyboards.
The vocals, yes, very often the vocals play the main role in the mix and especially in the arrangement, in any case, it is this element that most often allow us to define this music as black metal. It should also be noted that although the vocals are too often choked in despair, and in general they are quite sharp and squealing, more characteristic of depressive black metal, "De evigas gravrit" is by no means a depressive album. Yes, it's on the elusive verge of depressive black metal, but it's not depressive black metal at all.
Summary. "De evigas gravrit" embodies the opposite of fast and aggressive black metal, the bet is made here on a melancholic atmosphere and the beauty of frozen fury. This music is not for ambient or dungeon synth fans at all, because it's black metal. Interesting and beautiful black metal.
Sample:
Bekëth Nexëhmü - De Evigas Gravrit (Full album) 2022
