ALBUM REVIEW: Trenches – Svartelder

Norway’s SVARTELDER are perhaps one of the most impressive modern black metal acts operating within the country’s celebrated black metal underground. Whilst clearly taking influence from their second wave forebears, rather than lapse into a tired regurgitation of the sort of style and tropes that made Norwegian black metal so effective in the 90s, they have repurposed it and updated this sound for a modern audience, without straying too far from the genre’s core sound, with their first two albums – 2016’s Pyres and 2019’s Pits – firmly establishing the Bergen trio as one of the most promising acts the country has produced in the last decade.

The band’s latest album, Trenches, sees them develop an even more powerful, focused and varied sound than on any of their earlier records, resulting in a stunning masterclass in how to write black metal in the 21st Century. Psychotic Symphony kicks this album off in a dark and frenzied fashion, with demented, angular guitars, acerbic vocals and chaotic drums all creating a dense, caustic sound right off the bat. This is interspersed with lighter, melody-driven passages that are much bleaker, creating a depressive element that counterpoints the aggressive intensity extremely well, establishing a fierce and varied style for this album early on.

I Give The Stranger A Sign retains the slower, melancholic edge of the previous track, providing a gentler though nonetheless powerful sound that is accessible and catchy, with only a few faster, harsher sections and the bestial snarl of the vocals capturing the vicious aspects of the album’s opener, opting instead for a leaner approach. Touch This Norwegian Finger sees the doom-laden, ponderous sound get drawn out to encompass a full song, with rumbling bass, gargantuan, percussive drums and minimalist guitars and vocals crafting a spartan, sombre feel that, in spite of being much more reserved, is profoundly dramatic, using this funereal formula to make something incredibly immersive.

The Forgiving Isolation, with its thick, rhythmic sound and expansive leads, blends the cacophony of the first track, though utilising it in a restrained way, with sharper, crisper tones, veering between the two with ease, boasting an eclectic mix of black metal into what initially sounded as though it would be a fairly straightforward affair. As All Ends… reverts to the mid-paced, hypnotic sound of Touch This Norwegian Finger, using a dirge-like, repetitive guitar line to draw the listener in, with drums and bass following a similar format, allowing the nauseating vocals to take on a more central role and make this solid piece of music far more biting.

…With Death seamlessly picks up the crawling tempo and visceral vocals that characterised the preceding offering, but shifts the musical focus to a soaring, borderline epic doom approach, especially when it comes to the guitars, which are performed with a slick, polished quality that instantly makes this sound impressive and grandiose, but, despite its magnificent sound, this only acts as a segue between the last track and what follows. In The Trenches lurches back to the bellicose, belligerent sound that was present on the album’s opener, but mixes this unflinching aural assault with the measured doom and pummelling rhythms of some of this album’s most effective tracks, being one of its most frenetic efforts, but arguably also one of its most diverse.

SVARTELDER are a band that clearly value quality over quantity in their approach to creating new music. Trenches is strong, with the band tightening up their already muscular and imposing sound while trimming away what little fat was within their songwriting in the process. Each individual track is strong enough in its own right, with even the “weakest” tracks on the album still being more impressive than some bands’ best work. Taking in frenetic intensity and swirling atmospherics, it’s also an incredibly diverse sounding record, meaning that it doesn’t just lock into one gear and get stale, keeping the listener on their toes. Above all, Trenches sees SVARTELDER ascend to a higher creative level than even the best points of their earlier work, cementing themselves at the forefront of Norway’s black metal underground.

Rating: 9/10

Trenches is out now via Soulseller Records.

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