Recorded and mixed at Magick Sound Studio and Los Angered Recording, Angered, Sweden, Autumn/Winter 2004.
The dark occult chants which emanate from the five tracks on Runemagick's "Envenom" pummel the listener with blunt force. This group plays with a doomy style instrumentally, with thick, lumbering grooves overlaid by growls of demonic possession and wicked black chants.
The monsterous tones of "Vultures" resonate with the enormous, deeply sustained bass notes from Emma Karlsson that give this trio a distinctly evil sound. Runemagick author fairly long compositions as so many doomy acts do, but they take pains to place enough variety in their riffing to hold the listener's attention well. The title track kicks off with a fast riff that is uncharacteristic for doom, but fits the dark atmosphere very well. The vocals are sparse much of the time with a specific emphasis on riffing.
Nicklas Rudolfsson handles the guitar and vocal duties for the group, placing melodic, single-note melodies over Karlsson's bass work when applicable, and at other times opting for a hammering chugging attack. Daniel Moilanen plays simple beats with a lot of start atop action and this technique suits the music of Runemagick very well. He places appropriate fills without overplaying and this is a key ingredient in the group's overall sound. As the stream of consciousness guitar melodies of the title track melt into stop action downpicking and triplet gallops, Moilanen provides the proper amount of accents needed in order to accentuate the heavy features inherent in the band's sound.
The flanged axe work Rudolfsson undertakes in "Nebulous" adds a cosmic aura to this group's compositional structure. The frontman's bleak vocal grumblings are sparse yet effective as the rumbling lyrics echo over the song's buzzing riffs. You'll find detuned, heavily distorted plodding throughout "Maelstrom", a track which seethes with the bitter force of dark magick.
This crawling repast of blackened doom ultimately succeeds in it's ominous pummeling as Runemagick reveals themselves to be yet another dusk triumvirate in the ever growing legions of the genre.
Swedish Doom/Death Metal classic remastered!
Runemagick are among the most underrated bands in the history of metal. Their relative obscurity is hard to pin down. Musically, in terms of songcraft, atmosphere, and immersion into the unearthly realms of the occult, they are basically without peers. Yet despite a prolific thirty-year existence, their reputation exists on the fringes: highly regarded by some but not highly enough considering the overall quality of their output.
After a couple of listens you will be hooked by the atmosphere and guitarist/vocalist Nicklas Rudolfsson’s recognizable riffs that really feel like riding “On Funeral Wings”. It is amazing how Runemagick’s sound evolves on every album and becomes better all the time. Obviously, the music is most of the time really slow, atmospheric and quite catchy but sometimes the tempo is increased even though you don’t hear blastbeats on this album.
As a conclusion we must say that Runemagick really surpassed all expectations (again). If you are into Death/Doom Metal and don’t like this album, then there’s something wrong with you.
Sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvoM620HxYQ
