New album of classic pagan black metal. One of The Netherlands’ best active bands in the genre.
Expect nothing less of Hamergilde's
Stem der vaderen than fifty-three minutes of hypnotising, pure black metal atmopshere in the traditional vein. If you're familiar with Hamergilde and perhaps know the
Weerwolf debut, the
Wiking follow-up, or the split with Stormzege, or perhaps all of the above, you will be pleased to hear this band might have delivered its strongest material to date, without deviating from the traditionally structured black metal compositions Hamergilde always serves up. That's my take on it anyway...
As ever the guitars are nicely buzzing on, steady as a rock, delivering their old-school infused, moody black metal melodies. The deep black metal vocals of Odal lay down the lyrics, mostly penned in the Dutch or German languages. As always, they are poetic and melancholic, and go together well with the way they are laid down: not too prominent, but clearly audible. The vocal style is far from any hysteric Burzumesque screaming other bands might pour over this kind of music, which still owes a lot to Burzum but is never a copy. The drummer that's helping out on this album, M. Ahrin, is new to the band and is currently also part of Graveland. His drumming on
Stem der vaderen feels quite intuitive and natural, and often surprises with deliberate off-beat hits and unusual creative drum patterns; certainly when looking at the Hamergilde repertoire so far. It fits the music quite elegantly, and is worth your focus. As done on
Weerwolf, Hamergilde gives us some cover songs to enjoy as well. The first is the track
Zwart als ravenveren of the Dutch band Standrecht, and it turns that band's original folk track into a very enjoyable black metal piece that immediately feels like Hamergilde. The closing track
Zwaard en vuist is a Cultus cover, another Dutch underground band that gets a good treatment here, but is in its original form already much closer to the Hamergilde style than Standrecht.
People might be wary of the Graveland and Standrecht links, but if you listen to
Stem der vaderen you will be taken on a journey that feels like a warm bath to any black metal person that was part of the formative years of the second wave of black metal in the early nineties, and had fallen for
Hvis lyset tar oss and
Filosofem and some of the bands that took their cues from those two classics. So if you're only into raging chaotic black metal, crave thick modern walls of dissonants, or cannot do without endless prominent melodic leads, then Hamergilde is not the band you're looking for.
Sample:
youtube.com/watch?v=cDodY4SD_ZQ&list=RDcDodY4SD_ZQ&start_radio=1&t=138s
