ALBUM REVIEW: In Death I Shall Arise – Tilintetgjort
As long as black metal has existed there have been bands that have sought to broaden and develop the genre beyond its established sound. With exceptions such as SIGH, MEADS OF ASPHODEL and BLUT AUS NORD, Norway has lead the way with more experimental and progressive albums in much the same way that it defined the genre as a whole in the 90s, with the likes of SOLEFALD, DØDHEIMSGARD and VED BUENS ENDE all producing some of the most impressive records in the genre. Formed in 2020, Oslo’s TILINTETGJORT are a band that could very well take up the mantle for avant-garde black metal in the coming years. Although their debut album In Death I Shall Arise relies a little too heavily on a rawer production, in amongst that murk it also showcases some incredibly interesting musical ideas that, if developed, could cement this quintet’s place at the forefront of black metal’s more experimental outer reaches.
Kvikksølvdrømmer is a densely atmospheric start to the record, coupling raw, grating black metal guitars with sludgy bass, impenetrable ambience and tight, energetic drumming. Clean, chanted vocals soar over the top of this harsh and discordant sound before morphing into a harsher, acerbic snarl, weaving between the two and providing a powerful focal point that adds lots of character to a fairly stark and coarse piece of music. Sannhetens Søyler proves to be a faster and more urgent take on the last song’s formula, with some great basslines bubbling away beneath the core, and imaginative guitar work that would have been a bit more impactful with a slightly more polished production. Overall, this leans heavily into the more chaotic side of the sound that was hinted at on the opener, containing lots of musical shifts and tempo changes that help keep things interesting. Mercurial follows in a similar vein, pairing disjointed melodies with frenetic drumming, feral vocals and a far more dissonant, cacophonous approach that sounds great when the music is at its most visceral, but doesn’t work as well on the more measured moments.
Vinter Og Høst returns to the more cinematic sound of the opening song, but the music is much more memorable. Demented guitar work, excellent bass hooks and intricate drumming make for an immersive, imposing sound that’s far more experimental and ferocious than the first three offerings. The vocals, likewise, provide a haunting, hypnotic counterpoint to the rabid nature of the music, resulting in an intriguing and punishing affair that finally delivers on the avant-garde front. Hex – a short, sharp shock of a track – has a cavernous, magnificent sound that blends the frenzied flourishes of the last song with sonorous throat singing and huge, percussive drums, making this brief but effective number stand out significantly from much of what preceded it.
Dommedagsmonument is a monolithic juggernaut that takes up almost half the album’s running time, lurching from heady ambience to aggressive, bellicose black metal, with a few more ponderous, mid-paced moments thrown into the mix at various points. This gives way to a middle passage built around adventurous melodicism, booming chants and angelic acoustic guitars in what proves to be one of the album’s best moments, before returning to the harsher sound that the song opened with. The album’s closing moments introduce a hint of electronic synths into the mix, which sound great and could have been a great inclusion on some of the record’s earlier efforts.
It’s clear that TILINTETGJORT have placed a lot of great ideas into In Death I Shall Arise, but ultimately the thing that stops this album from being as impressive as it could be is its production. It may feel a little pointless to call a black metal record “too raw”, but in this case it really is at points, almost to the point of possessing a demo quality sound, with a lot of the great hooks and flourishes being buried in the mix. When creating music that is designed to push the boundaries of what black metal can sound like, the production needs to be a little sharper in order for those fresh ideas to shine through. Nonetheless, musically this is great, and it provides an excellent foundation for future, envelope-pushing music to be built upon.
Rating: 6/10
In Death I Shall Arise is out now via Dark Essence Records.
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I feel like taking points away from this record on account of its production is missing the point somewhat. Despite the rawness of the production, the ideas on offer are perfectly audible and relatively easy to inspect, so you can’t accuse the band of intentionally or unintentionally obfuscating their material. To me, – and most certainly to the band – the arcane, alchemical and occult revelations depicted in the lyrics are complimented by the dusty, ancient and brittle production values; values that also ties into the stylistic choices concerning the music in a good way. In my opinion, it seems like Tilintetgjort has conjured an alternative timeline to the avantgarde developments within the Norwegian black metal scene in the late 90s, where more modern sounds and components have been exchanged with a pure, experimental development of second wave sounds and material. I would give ‘In Death I Shall Arise’ a 8 – maybe even a weak 9 – for it’s ambitious and highly coherent experimental journey combined with the suitable framing of the live-in-studio-approach, the raw production and the visual presentation all working in tandem. In other words, I don’t agree with much of anything in this review, apart from the context given in the first paragraph.
But people being passionate about and discussing metal will always be more important than complete consensus:)
You are sooo right! It’s funny to me how some people just get it, and other just totally misses it. That can be said about all kinds of art, but music especially I think.
LOVE the album. this band is going places… Trippy stuff! Great lyrichs in both norsk and engelsk!