MINNERIKET - Gjennom Meg Gar Ingen Til Hvile
Self Released
So when it comes to the most anticipated releases for 2022 I saw in December that this Norwegian BM act had a new album coming out. Now maybe for your average extreme metal fan the name MINNERIKET wouldn't ring a bell. But for me oh hell yes it does.
I first learned about this one man black metal act from Norway, the one man being Stein Akslen, a few years ago. I had listened to his album Anima Sola from 2018. What made that album a favorite of mine that year was how Stein Akslen's approach to traditional atmospheric black metal. He basically takes the basic genre template and adds unconventional influences to broaden the sound.
Stein Akslen is the main vocalist and multi-instrumentalist but he adds additional musicians and vocalists in order to create his vision. On this latest one he comes across as a composer conducting a small orchestra. His additional helpers consist of various string instrument musicians, percussionists, keyboardists and a bevy of female singers. Of course the end result is another successful experiment into pushing the boundaries of black metal.
On his last album, Anima Sola, Akslen provided a lot of post-punk and gothic doom influences. This one still contains plenty of gothic doom which creates an atmosphere of melancholy beauty. With his added BM influences as well as harsh vocals cutting through like a flaming sword, things become more like a treat. But for most of this album it's like symphonic metal crashing head long into traditional atmospheric black metal. No it's not symphonic black metal!
The use of the varied female vocalists works well. Oh yeah and only Akslen could make a sinister sounding Hammond organ sound black metal. Add to that the various times the vocals carry an almost folk metal pedigree. All of this is a cool bridge to the over whelming sinister atmosphere which pervades these songs. I look at this album as one of those late night engrossing affairs.
Once again MINNERIKET have produced an amazing release. It's a listening pleasure that will captivate you. It's the opera soundtrack of the macabre. A late night adventure with so many epic turns which dive into the abyss. I love it.
LISTEN and BUY HERE:
https://minneriket.bandcamp.com/album/gjennom-meg-g-r-ingen-til-hvile
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