Artist..: Whoredom Rife

Album...: Dommedagskvad

Genre...: Black Metal                | Label...: Terratur Possessions
Year....: 2017                       | Cat.No..:

R.date..: 2023-06-19                 | S.date..: 2017-06-10

Source..: WEB (24bit)                | Encoder.: libFLAC
Bitrate.: 1808kbps avg.              | F.Rate..: 48.0kHz

http://open.qobuz.com/album/r8ax4qlb7vxtc

Disc 1 / 1

01. Intro (Bells of Doom)                                           1:41
02. Beyond the Skies of God                                         5:56
03. Cursing the Storm to Come                                       5:02
04. Spir                                                            6:09
05. Svik                                                            5:48
06. Winged Assassin                                                 5:46
07. Pilgrim                                                         6:55

(524.02MB) 00:37:17

I loved last year’s debut EP The Worship of Idols Instead of God; Idolatry
from Norwegian black metal group Whoredom Rife, staying true to the icy
cold sound of the classic second wave Norwegian bands with beauty and
aggression in equal measure, while also dragging the classic sound kicking
and screaming into the 21st century. The 4 song EP has been followed by a
new full length album which sees them tighten up a little on the
production and song writing, coming off even more wider in scope and epic,
if compromising a little on the aggression. Although tightened up, the
production can be a little weak in some areas, but the energy, atmosphere
and songcraft make Whoredom Rife one of the most interesting Norwegian
black metal bands since the mid-nineties, and this is one not to be missed
for Scandinavian black metal fans.

After a short intro Whoredom Rife begin with Beyond the Skies of God,
melodic major key tremolo picked riffs in the style of Dark Fortress’
Tales from Eternal Dusk and understated but effective keyboards giving an
icy edge to the blastbeats and rumbling bass, with the production doing a
lot to give focus to the low end – they’re no trebly and scratchy bedroom
band. The vocals are typical raspy black metal screams, harsh and throaty,
effective but without being overly noteworthy. It gets a little bit muddy
when their guitars and drums are at the fastest, but the song writing is
good enough that it doesn’t detract from the overall effect – there are
breaks for slower more eerie moments, which make a great change in pace
from the blastbeats, and the slow melodic ending with it’s simple but epic
melody works really well albeit a bit overlong in a great album opener.
And this is the weakest track of the bunch over it’s full length.

Cursing the Storm to Come is more aggressive, minor key tremolo picked
guitars give it a De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas-esque darkness,while there’s
an Eidolon-era Dark Fortress style to the cold and raw vocals, which are
at their best on the album here, making it sound cold and wintry,
especially as the vocal lines fit in much better with the guitar melodies.
The keyboard melodies in the middle of the track are so wintry while the
guitars so blistering it’s like being buffeted by freezing snow while lost
in a northern snowstorm. Winged Assassin is another dark and brooding
piece of icy melodic black metal with a slow opening riff and some
dissonant guitar melodies and drum patterns, while still having the faster
and more epic parts in the middle in a less aggressive, but still
fantastic track showing their variation. Spir is one of the most epic in
scope, the icy cold atmosphere of the biting guitar sound playing stirring
melodic riffs against pounding, striking drums hearken to the sound of
battles in the frozen north of the Viking age. It’s awesome from start to
finish, their own heavy sound coming from the drum heavy production is
fearsome, but with a sense of beauty and grandeur thanks to some stirring
guitar melodies and understated Emperor-esque synths to really add to the
cold sound.

There’s a few minor flaws to it, but they’re negligible as Dommedagskvad
is much more than the sum of it’s parts, a creative, cold, dark and
melodic piece of Norwegian black metal, hearkening back to the glory days
of the nineties, while driving forward into the 2010’s as one of the
finest bands the country has produced in recent years. Make Norwegian
black metal great again!

ixxu!imp