Dold Vorde Ens Navn "Gjengangere I Hjertets Mørke" Cassette

The new Oslo breed featuring Håvard Jørgensen (aka Haavard and Lemarchand, co-founding member of Satyricon and early Ulver member), Vicotnik (Dødheimsgard, Ved Buens Ende), Cerberus (ex- Dødheimsgard) and Myrvoll (Nidingr) has risen to bring forth a fresh and unique Norwegian black metal sound often reminding of the early nineties and its purity.
The debut ep “Gjengangere i hjertets mørke” is scheduled for release during the second half of 2019 and will consist of 4 tracks bringing around 20 minutes of pure northern magic.

The musical roots of this band go much deeper and farther back in time than their young age may suggest. Formed in 2019, Dold Vorde Ens Navn are a new flagship for four consummate black metal artists: Haavard Jørgensen (guitars), Kai S. “Cerberus” Halvorsen (bass), Øyvind Myrvoll (drums) and Yusaf “Vicotnik” Parvez (vocals). Many will recognize their names since the four musicians have featured in the line-ups of many mid-90s black metal bands, including Ulver, Satyricon, Dødheimsgard, and Ved Buens Ende.
These names alone should make the ears of avant-gard extreme metal fans perk up. Truth be told, the band’s debut EP, Gjengangere i hjertets mørke, does not tap as much into the weird musicality of Dødheimsgard and Ved Buens Ende as the band’s subsequent LP will do, but rather revisits the sounds and aesthetics of the second wave of Norwegian black metal. This is particularly true for the EP’s first two songs that are fast, grim and quite brutal. Blasting drums and ice-cold tremolo picking guitars abound, conjuring up a pitch-black melancholy that is perfectly captured in the album's artwork. “Den ensomme død” is the one that hits hardest, with its black metal / punk attitude that does not leave much space for nuance or experimentation.
Things move in a slightly more experimental direction on the remaining two tracks of the EP. Here, Haavard takes out his acoustic guitar, the tempo drops down a notch, a moody piano lurks in the background, while Vicotnik’s vocal delivery becomes more histrionic, his grim growls replaced with shrieks, whispers, laments and even some clean singing. “Blodets hvisken” is particularly beautiful, with its solemn and melancholic atmosphere that the band will revisit in full in the subsequent LP.
Overall, Gjengangere i hjertets mørke makes for a compelling introduction to this new band and places Dold Vorde Ens Navn urgently on the map of extreme metal acts to watch out for. The EP dabbles in much more uncompromising black metal than the 2021 LP will do, and this should be taken as a warning for those who, enthralled by the 4 songs presented here, will immediately go and grab the full-length too.

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