White Medal "Guthmers Hahl" CD Digipack

“Alone an thee hear’t wolf cry Agbrigg!”

Following over 4 years of demos, splits, and EPs, Guthmers Hahl represents White Medals first full-length album. A one-man project helmed by George Proctor, White Medal’s early attacks were already a feast of raw black metal for any obscure, pagan tyrant. Is Guthmers Hahl worthy of its full-length title? Read on…

The past creations of White Medal have always had a distinctive sound; filthy production, an obscure and alienated yet glorious and arrogant air, and twisted, inhuman vocals that you can practically smell the turf rising from. Guthmers Hahl not only continues the this decadent and atavistic tradition, it’s the most depraved and sooty sounding White Medal release yet. The guitar tone alone is massive and devouring enough to be the aural equivalent of Fenrir’s jaws closing on the hand of Týr, but the immense, almost blown-out pagan war drums pounding at the roots of Yggdrasil leave no doubt that this is music to invoke an axe age, a sword age, ere the world crumbles. The lyrics aren’t provided, but the old Yorkshire dialect used in the song titles further entrenches the archaic miasma Guthmers Hahl revels in, delivered by Proctor’s vocals; as inhumane and sickening as ever, sounding less like a human and more like a bog body vomiting five-thousand year old peat from it’s dessicated lungs. In truth, that’s the best analogy for this whole album and the rest of White Medal’s discography so far. It feels unearthed; covered in mud and shrouded in mists, a horrifying and vengeful walker on the moor.

The songwriting holds up to the monstrous sound in unexpected ways that prove yet again White Medal is far superior to much of what gets peddled as ‘raw’ black metal these days. “Return of Pagan Yorkshire” makes for a perfect opening battlecry, as ominous and menacing as it is triumphant and superior. A hammer strike of annihilating vocals, crashing drums,  and even a vicious solo near the end. Far from an uninspired Ildjarn hanger-on, White Medal’s riffing draws from punk and traditional heavy metal with power chord charges, as well as black metal from it’s tremolo melodies and overall atmosphere. There’s a thirst for conquest on Guthmers Hahl that brings the album to a great many shores. “Skratje’s Gate” has an unexpected, industrial vibe to it’s grinding, anvil-striking tune, interspersed with a melody that wouldn’t have been out of place on Filosofem, and finally ending with a triumphant, NWOBHM sounding riff that I challenge you not to be fist-pumping and head-banging along with. If that sounds like an eclectic mess, be assured that Guthmers Hahl stirs all of these ingredients into its foul brew in such a way that its hard to imagine it tasting any other way.

There’s so much more that I could write about this album, like the way certain riffs hearken back to Graveland’s The Celtic Winter, one of my favorite albums, or the delirious and maniacal vocals that grip you by the throat before they’re twisted into the warped, electronic outro of “Afeeard Ut Setting Sun”, but it suffices to say that Guthmers Hahl is a rare sort of album. For a first, official full-length, it’s immensely satisfying; taking everything that White Medal has accomplished so far and not only doing it better than he ever has, but actually expanding and evolving his sound in brilliant, unexpected, and wholly unique ways. Five years is a long time to spend in the demo stage, but it absolutely benefited Mr. Proctor here, and you have to wonder why more bands don’t spend time discovering their sound and developing their craft before making a first foray into the world of albums. Here’s hoping for a long, glorious, and depraved future for pagan Yorkshire. -Jake