After the Norwegian second wave dwindled and faded away, the golden age of black metal was over, and only small scenes and underground bands carried the torch. Musically, something important was lost along the way. The fiery passion that burned in Mayhem, Gorgoroth and all those bands was extinguished, somehow. Attempts were made to replicate that greatness, but the results were merely emulative of a lost glory, and the creativity wasn’t legimately rediscovered. The Nidrosian scene in the late 00s and early 10s brought back much of the enthusiasm and burning passion that had been unmistakably an integral element in the success of the second wave. Many bands of that scene achieved something rather special in that they created a unified black metal movement with genuine musical innovations. No former glory was recaptured, but these bands breathed new life into a flickering flame. In a way, the Trondheim bands developed the genre into a rather specific direction based on groundwork laid by the second wave bands. Some chose an utterly sinister style, while others valued the more emotive and melancholic approach. One particular viewpoint remained somewhat neglected, however. Bands that combined aggression, hatred and melancholy in the tradition of Infernus’ Gorgoroth were still few. Though Finnish black metal blossomed into something rather impressive during those years, a certain atmospheric and emotional fundamental in black metal songwriting was neglected and forgotten. For whatever reason, incredibly talented and brilliant bands playing in a similar style never quite achieved that same sound. Perhaps a Norwegian was needed to create music like that?
Svikt hails from Larvik, Norway, not a place known for black metal bands. Their debut album was recorded “leisurely”, as the booklet tells, between fall 2009 and fall 2010. In essence, the music is a combination of classic black metal, both in terms of furious, destructive wrath, and that dark melancholic edge that many second wave bands had, as well as more recent evolutions, where more emphasis is put on achieving an orthodox, satanic black metal sound. Svikt’s “I Elendighetens Selskap” liberally combines many different – but compatible – elements of Nordic black metal into a delightfully coherent and natural sequence of the style’s different leanings. On one hand, songs like “Morkne røtter” make use of these orthodox adjacent minor chord riffs, and the next moment, the song bursts into Kaevum or Sarath-like andante, with sorrowful atmosphere in abundance. “Gråbein i fåreklær” journeys from intricate arpeggios and counterpoints in harmonic minor to pummeling furious assaults of hatefulness – like Gorgoroth at its best – and finally climaxes in dramatic, melodic tremolo-picked black metal riffing. “La tonene tale” finishes the album with a grandiose, even mournful note. Even besides the absolute high points of the album, there are many excellent Gorgoroth-esque tremolo riffs, as well as highly energetic, hateful atonal riffs, reminiscent of Horna. The riffing is generally composed of two rhythmically dependent guitar parts, the one playing the basic frame for the riff (the power chords and other appropriate intervals, generally making use of lower frequencies), while the other plays the part that can be seen as the main attraction: higher-pitched, piercing tremolo riffing, or possibly a dissonant interval from the lower part’s range to create a fascinating combination of harmony and disharmony. The music achieves a dramatic effect mostly from the chord progressions and the use of minor scales that give a dark, foreboding sound to the music. Despite the melodicness, there’s an aura of doom and desolation in the music that bands only very rarely achieve, which is something that made Gorgoroth’s music unique. In fact, that atmosphere comes exactly from the style of melodies used. This is the most apparent in songs like “Nattfall”, “Vi knekker sammen” and “La tonene tale”, which greatly reminisce Gorgoroth classics like “Krig”, “Heavens Fall” and “Måneskyggens slave”. Svikt’s music doesn’t come across as derivative of that, as something as close to that atmosphere as “I Elendighetens Selskap” is very rare, despite Gorgoroth’s success. Only a truly brilliant mind can possibly create something that is as beautiful as this, and yet so hateful at the same time.
Some complaints can be made regarding the album’s production. The drums sound rather machine-like and unnatural, which is somewhat harmful, especially during the parts of the album where sheer ferocity and sinister riffing is to do the talking. During the album’s most awe-inspiring passages, the music is so mesmerising that it becomes impossible to mind such minor problems. The vocals are not abundant in variety, but the distorted, croaking tone is listenable enough to not become a bother. The riffing is given the central part, as is only appropriate with material as strong as here. Some of the riffing that is entirely based on atonal combinations of minor chords can prove to have considerably less lasting power than the more intricate and melodic material, but everything heard here is in entirely good taste, and with such great company, even the lesser riffs are made enjoyable by the anticipation of the truly ingenious material, and the fantastic atmosphere prevalent on the album. Many of the songs are incredibly anthemic musically, but certain shortcomings in the instrumentation – mostly the mechanical, metronome-esque quality of the drums – prevent the music from reaching similar heights as some of its second wave paragons. Overall, “I elendighetens selskap” is nearly flawless, and in terms of musical quality, it ranks among the classics of black metal’s golden age in terms of quality. It’s amazing how little recognition Svikt has received for this masterpiece, when bands of far lesser talent receive hype as the saviours of black metal. With bands like Svikt around, black metal needs no saviour.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=sksPpEGYvPY&t=254s
