The first album from KVAD, "Cold and Dark, As Life" was a deeply chilly affair so fans of this Norwegian raw BM act might be glad (or maybe not) that the project's third album "Sort Skogmesse" (in English: "Black Forest Mass") is a more melodic atmospheric BM work that recalls the glory years of Norwegian black metal back in the 1990s. Influences from acts like Burzum and Mayhem can be heard in the combination of grinding, almost painfully singeing tremolo guitars and smooth raindrop synth tones that ooze sadness and the pain of isolation and loneliness. All seven songs featured on the album were written by KVAD sole proprietor Peregrinus who also performs most of the music (strings, synths and screams) with Lord G on stick duties.
The album opens cheerfully with "Et lys slukkes" ("A light goes out"), heralding the arrival of darkness with a slow pace, burning guitars, pained vocals and a general depressive mood throughout the song, even when the pace speeds up with a rocking, headbanging rhythm. A streamlined if perhaps repetitive song at times, but ending up a distinctive track through its motifs and changing rhythms, "Et lys slukkes" is a solid start. Follow-up track "Storm" is a much more aggressive and faster song with pounding percussion, lots of screaming and snarling, an even more raw sound and a darker atmosphere. Plenty of drama is to be had here, not least in the song's explosive conclusion.
Each song contrasts with the one preceding it, with third track "En sti mot nord" ("A Path to the North") offering a rugged riff series at a leisurely pace after "Storm", to be followed by the fast, frantic and frenzied "Min Natt" ("My Night"), on which Peregrinus's increasingly desperate and tormented vocals are accompanied by a sinister moaning choir. Past the halfway mark on the album, "Ferden i det graa" ("The journey in the grey") starts with a solemn synth-only instrumental that ruptures into a huge wall of guitar fire and pounding drums while keyboards continue to moan in the background. "Hør natten kaller" ("Hear the night calling") is a powerful track of unusual rattling percussion, streaming guitar corrosion and even more impassioned vocals and screams. Though it comes late in the album, "Hør natten kaller" is the stand-out track for its stunning soundscape, in which Peregrinus and Lord G pull out everything they've got and go for broke. The album closes with the title track, a dramatic and desperate work of varied and thunderous percussion, scrabbling guitars, plaintive moaning keyboards, and a mix of harsh and clean vocals from Peregrinus as he grows ever more despairing.
The most intense and dramatic music comes in the last couple of tracks, by far the best on the album, but the songs leading up to them are all solid and punchy. The music is generally minimalist in approach, with the keyboards keeping a low profile for most of the album (apart from the middle tracks that feature synth-only introductions). Songs usually feature a few riffs that repeat, giving them clear identities, and have the nature of being mini epics in their own right; tracks like "En sti mot nord" can feel like mini albums in the way they vary in pace, rhythm and mood as they trace their own parts in a narrative that will climax in a profound occult transformation.
Peregrinus and KVAD may be happy making raw melodic black metal in the style of classic 1990s-era BM bands, and nothing more, but the way this project is going about recalling black metal's prime years with heartfelt passion, energy and drama is making its own music almost timeless.
Sample:
Kvad (Norway) - Sort Skogsmesse (Full Length) 2025
