KHOLD : “Svartsyn”

Norwegian black metal legends KHOLD have announced the news about  their upcoming album, “Svartsyn” (“pessimism”), on the anniversary of the release of their third full-length “Mørke gravers kammer” (2004), after nearly 8 years of silence,  raising a huge wave of satisfaction among all avid fans who were anxiously awaiting new music from the dark formation.

“Svartsyn” will be released on June 24th via Soulseller Records, featuring ten tracks and spanning about forty minutes.

In their work, as expected, the musicians transfer some of the feeling they create in some of their other bands, such as Sarke and Tulus, as is true and vice versa.
With their  unique poetic structure of the lyrics in an old-fashioned Norwegian style, the band stands out with  sophistication and precise hits in terms of lyrical technique.
After six albums and a repeatedly stated individuality, the band has nothing to prove to anyone and very easily and skillfully expresses its artistic vision through the prism of black metal.
Adhering to a simple but highly effective and influential style of music writing from the very beginning of their music career, KHOLD this time present their seventh full-length album, filled with unadulterated and raw 90’s energy .

Starting with the anthem “Apostel”, the album is drawing us to the whirlpool of KHOLD.
The whole song is a “hook” that catches you tight and captivates you with its memorable rhythm and melody. Radiating power and strength, the song have the ability to instantly get stuck in your mind, thanks to Gard’s obsessive preaching vocals and the masterful instrumental.
In this song, the band, as always, works as a whole – guitars, bass, drums, vocals … all is one, a full symbiosis, cutting with its cold and sharp sword, forged with 90’s black metal and ritualistic atmosphere.

With a certain amount of groove and distinctive bass lines, the band achieved wonderful results in terms of expression and memorable moments in the other nine songs, too.
The whole album seems to me as a whole, as the songs are following the album’s musical theme as one.
Each of them presents its own character, at the same time being a perfectly fitting piece of the puzzle.

And some of these pieces are just incredibly catchy and you can’t stop listening to them again and again.
In “Bryt i Udåd Ut”, the last song on the album, we have an interesting sludgy intro, which continues rhythmically
and pulsating until the very end of the song, as in the same time the dynamics progress gradually and give an exceptional ending to the adventure of “Svartsyn”.
Challenging element and a really nice hint that the end of the album is far from the end of KHOLD’s plans for the future and there is still very much to come out under their sleeves.

Among the interesting aspects in the band’s music that are worth mentioning in more depth is also the respect for
the bass as an instrument and its use to its full potential, which is fully valid for “Svartsyn”.
Very few bands in black metal pay attention to it, and here we can find it presented with great mastery, complementing the soundscape and the authenticity of the record.
It can be said that thanks to the bass lines in combination with the other instruments and vocals, we get such a  powerful atmosphere in this and previous KHOLD albums.

The mentioned atmosphere is also transferred to the visual layout of the album.
As always, the cover features Gard, the band’s frontman. The work itself was created by Terje Johnsen, presenting Khold’s trademark again in an intriguing and memorable way.
Some time ago, Gard himself shared in an interview: “We use this head (my head) as the face of Khold. It works like a logo. When you see the face you know it is Khold! No doubt about it!”.
I could not agree more. I can’t think of another band that uses such a distinctive technique to create the covers
of their albums and make them so memorable, in sync with the music on the album itself – not just captivating, but thought-provoking.

“Svartsyn” unleashes unbridled pessimistic energy with profound lyrics and without hesitation crushes the mind with penetrating vocals and agile black metal  instrumental in 90’s Norwegian style with all the KHOLD’s traditional elements in mind. Through themes concerning death, dystopia and the world of demons, KHOLD once again opened the doors to a primitive world of darkness and presented powerful destructive passages, captivating with their authenticity.

Favorite songs : “Apostel” ,  “Bryt i Udåd Ut”
Score: 10/10 ????????????????????????????????????????

You can hear two of the songs in the album.

“Apostel”:

“I Demonens Bok”: