ALBUM REVIEW: What We Leave Behind – Brymir
It won’t come as a surprise to learn that Viktor Gullichsen works as a sound designer for the film industry. His expertise is stamped all over BRYMIR’s latest album, the Finnish four-piece having crafted a remarkably cinematic slice of melodic death metal. What We Leave Behind is as epic as it is bleak; whenever Gullichsen screams over one of their melancholic riffs, he could be channelling centuries of anguish. And while it’s not always a comfortable listen, their fifth full-length is powerful enough to echo through the halls of Asgard.
It’s also strangely chilly. One of BRYMIR’s strengths is atmospherics; these songs are infused with a freezing, black metal undercurrent, and you can almost hear little chunks of ice being knocked from their instruments as they play. The title track for instance, is the type of melodic death metal that could have been recorded in a blizzard atop a seaside cliff. It’s grandiose, melancholic, and as fast as the lightning flashes that illuminate the horizon.
True Darkness is another good example of the BRYMIR experience. This mid-album highlight finds them playing high-speed melodic death metal, backed with choral vocals and dramatic orchestral effects. It’s gloomy, but energetic. That song title is apt indeed; this would potentially be depressing as hell if they slowed down, and it gets very close to turning into full on black metal. Albeit, with the evil turned off.
Things get angrier and heavier on Buried Legion, while The Roaring King finds a way to out-bombast everything that comes before it. The spoken-word sequence that leads into a multi-layered choral vocal is so dramatic that it threatens to turn into a parody, but they just about hold themselves back from going full theatre kid.
It’s all deeply serious and important, but mercifully, BRYMIR aren’t afraid to sprinkle in a little fun. Once the album proper finishes with the lengthy Broken Dawn, they round proceedings off with a bonus track called How Much Is The Fish Bit of an odd name isn’t it? Well, that’s because it’s a SCOOTER cover. It sees them letting their hair down with three and a half minutes of trashy Eurodance turned metal. This extra cut is closer to the rampant silliness of FEUERSCHWANZ than any of the classic melodeath acts you could name and while metal interpretations of pop songs can be cringeworthy, this one is a riot.
So, while we’re still having a few minor debates about the correct way to pronounce their name, BRYMIR more than cement their position on What We Leave Behind. This is melodic death written with the scope of epic black metal. It’s dense, elaborate, and could easily be the soundtrack to a science fiction anime movie. It is a little unfortunate that this shares a release date with the new AMON AMARTH album, but it would make the excellent second half of a double bill. If you prefer your melodeath to be more grounded, BRYMIR won’t be for you, but if you’re not afraid of a little ham, this is brilliant stuff.
Rating: 8/10
What We Leave Behind is set for release on October 2nd via Napalm Records.
Like BRYMIR on Facebook.