Øksehovud "Makt, Høyhet, Herredømme" CD Digipack

True Norwegian Black Metal at his finest. Comes in a 2 part Digipack format with a picture printed CD

A truly fearsome and frosty beast, "Makt, Høyhet, Herredømme" is the debut release from solo Norwegian raw lo-fi black metal act Øksehovud. It actually came out last year (2021) but I was too absorbed chasing other, less frightening music to notice. Øksehovud's style is grounded in the classic 1990s-era of Norwegian black metal bands such as Darkthrone, Emperor and others. Already Øksehovud's own iteration of 1990s Norwegian BM has its distinctive stamp: the most obvious aspect here is the vicious and chilling vocal that acts more as an ambient element in the music rather than as a carrier for misanthropic lyrics. The minimally styled, riff-dominated music can often be fast but it is always steady and features much crash cymbal abuse across all songs. Some songs seem primitive in their construction on first hearing though on repeated listening they can turn out more detailed and varied.
Even though there are seven distinct songs on the album, they really should be heard as a continuous immersive soundscape work of sharp shrieking frost vocals over a soundtrack of gritty, bleeding-raw guitar noise drone riffing and emphatic crashing percussion. The cymbals have that tinny, trashy tone which enhances the sinister iciness of the vocals. Right from the start with opener "Neubaufahrzeug over Hardangervidda" – I wonder if that's a reference to Ildjarn-Nidhogg's ambient album "Hardangervidda" – we are in deep icy raw BM / dark ambient territory with those terrifying vocal screams and the neo-primitive music built upon repetition, steady rhythms and a brisk tempo. The title track which follows goes even deeper and darker with a change of key and ominous riffs though the music remains repetitive. The repetition and the monotony build up tension as the demonic vocals swirl and devour everything in their path.
As the album continues, descending ever deeper in its deep-freeze labyrinth, the music takes on a demented edge with its speed, repetitive riff loops, thumping percussion and above all those malevolent phantom voices that go right through your head and leave sheer brain-destroying ice trails. "The arrows of almighty Ner are drawn" is an early highlight with catchy riffs that becomes more and more hysterical and almost runs into the next track (there's not too much difference between the two songs) which veers into its own special zone of dark mania with unrelenting riffs and echoing screams. "Baptized in the abysmal tarn of the vitriolic sorcerer" is the track that most reminds me of Ildjarn's driving if repetitive style of music in parts. Closing track "Mosedekte runer i en eldgammel elk" is a menacing, blackened depressive doom piece of eternal screaming savagery with the addition of a second layer of vocals and ominous droning keyboards on top of the dreary riff loops: a fitting conclusion for an album of nearly continuous demonic storm chaos.
It may be monotonous for many listeners and the vocals don't vary a great deal but "Makt, Høyhet, Herredømme" is a very dark and disturbing work of lo-fi atmospheric BM / dark ambient sound art. I would go so far as to suggest that all tracks should be joined up, perhaps with ambient interludes, for an even more immersive sonic experience of being trapped in a never-ending hell dementia. With this album, Øksehovud is off to a solid start as a depressive atmospheric BM / dark ambient act with a raw sound, a distinct minimal style emphasising the vocals as an ambient music instrument, and a lo-fi approach to recording and production.

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