ALBUM REVIEW: Vargrav - "Netherstorm"

By: Conor O’Dea

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/01/2017

Label: Werewolf Records

An exceptional debut album by a very talented composer, “Netherstorm” provides the perfect symphonic complement to the complexities and contradictions of the multiple darknesses at the core of our seasonal cycle, and is remarkable in both mood and concept.

“Netherstorm” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Netherstorm

2). Shadowed Secret Unmasked

3). Limbo of Abysmal Void

4). Ethereal Visions of a Monumental Cataclysm

5). Obidient Intolerant

6). Outro

The Review:

As I listen to Vargrav'sdebut album “Netherstorm”, I am situated on the edge of the North Atlantic, caught in a season of deep lability which surges tempestuously between Winter hurricanes and polar vortices. There could be no more fitting soundscape for this temperamental climate; both in ferocious grandeur and ataraxic lulls, this work captures all the subtleties of the anatomy of True Winter - full of savagery and sorrow, of majesty and torpor.

Vargrav'slone composer and musician hails from Hyvinkäa, Finland. The project is self-described as symphonic black metal, which, given some of the pejorative associations, may throw off potential listeners. Don't let it: this is high craft which bonds the ruthlessness of its forebears with considerably more lyrical and sonic maturity. The orchestral and symphonic passages throughout add ambience and atmosphere without ever straying into the territory of those black metal subgenres - it sews a rich textural tapestry that illustrates a landscape harrowed and harried by the winds of the glacial, almost retreating vocals and the driving flurry and hail of the guitars and drums. Each song is carefully set up structurally, a frost-rimed surface of absolute zero then torn apart by blistering raw guitar  that comes through in blizzard-like ruptures and cascades. Throughout, we have great, vocals, sorcerous and menacing. Intros range from the almost science fiction inflected “Netherstorm” and the bombastic dungeon synth of “Shadowed Secrets Unmasked” to the restraint of “Limbo of Abysmal Void”and haunting choral passages of “Ethereal Vision of a Monumental Cataclysm”.

The album begins and ends beautifully, allowing a full narrative sweep to encapsulate it as a whole. The slow settling of the storm into the austere grandeur and ice-still world-view of “Obedient, Intolerant, Ensnared” and the haunting, almost mournful instrumental outro show deep attention to the album-as-tale. The story here is a memorable one, and one I will return to time and time again even as winter recedes.

There are two great bonus tracks here which have ended up on a separate EP. The first is “Glory of Eternal Night”, probably the most feral of all the tracks. To my ears, it sounds like the pursuit of the Wild Hunt - nocturnal, sepulchral and unrelenting. The final bonus track is a cover of Emperor's “Ancient Queens”. It is a very attentive interpretation that seems to fuse the symphonic subtleties of the “As the Shadows Rise” rendition with the savage fury of the earlier “Wrath of the Tyrant” version.

An exceptional debut album by a very talented composer, “Netherstorm” provides the perfect symphonic complement to the complexities and contradictions of the multiple darknesses at the core of our seasonal cycle, and is remarkable in both mood and concept. I am very grateful that Werewolf Records grabbed this brilliant work and allowed it the exposure it merits!

“Netherstorm” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook