Band: Trelldom
Album: …by the shadows…
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Norway
Label: Prophecy Productions
Released: 13th of September 2024
Introduction
Trelldom is a Black Metal Band hailing from Sunnfjord & Bergen, Norway. It was founded back in 1992 by none other than Kristian Gaahl Espedal. The band released their debut Disappearing of the Burning Moon … in 1994, followed by the album trilogy Til Evighet, Til et Annet and Til Minne… . After the release of Til Evighet, the band became a staple of the Norwegian scene and the black metal genre, espacially due to their Singer Gaahl also joining Gorgoroth as their vocalist around that time. But enough of praising the past, let dive into the creative realm of their newly released madness.
…by the shadows…
Tracklist:
- The Voice of What Whispers
- Exit Existence
- Return the Distance
- Between the World
- I Drink Out of My Head
- Hiding Invisible
- By the Shadows
If you expect full blown Gorgoroth-esque Black Metal, you will be disapointed. The Album is way more athmospheric and progressive than what I’ve come to expect from other Norwegian bands, a nice change in a genre that sometimes seems to just repeat the established formula of tremolo picking, blast beats and satanism.
The Voice of What Whispers opens the album with a very dissonant intro andnot overly distorted guitars and I think a that’s a theremin humming in the background. It is definetly a very progressive, nearly Pink Floyd / Jethro Tull sounding intro. The vocals are in the form of a haunting story telling, clean style, that I did not expect, but overall it got me hooked on whats to come. As stated it definetly is not compareable to Gorgoroth or God Seed, more in style of Gaahl’s Wyrd, but even way more dissonant.
Exit Existence is my favourite track on the record with the clean singing and driving rythm section you completely loose control of your mind and just dwell into a trance like state with the violin in the background emphasizing that feeling. Around 2 minutes into song the drums goes into some blast beats with ghost like vocals. The guitars change into tremolo picking melodies as dark as the shadows of Mordor to further underline the intentions of the album. The violins at the end get so high and dissonant that they sound like tortured screams of other wordly entities, definetly not human.
The albums last track By the Shadows is a bit faster, with more conventional Black Metal chords, but again not too distorted and throughout the intro it picks up a bit on its speed with the occasional saxophone in the background by the acclaimed norwegian jazz musician Kjetil Møster further pushing the restricted boundaries of Black Metal.
Conclusion
What a ride this album is…
Is it good? Yes. Did I expexted it to be this avantgarde? No.
Trelldom takes the listener on a strange yet very interesting journey through uncharted realms of extreme music. If you have an open mind for the wicked dark arts of Norwegian avantgarde metal you need to check it out. If you do not like weird stuff then you will probably not be so happy with this release, needlessly do yourself a favour and listen to it, you will be suprised regardless.
My personal BMZ rating : 7,5/10
A solid record with a new vocal approach by Gaahl that only he can perform that way but musically too weird for the general listener, nonetheless I enjoyed it on a stormy cold day and for that it fits the mood.
Support Trelldom here: https://trelldom.bandcamp.com/album/by-the-shadows
What do you think of …by the shadows…?
Do you like it or hate it? You can share your opinion on our social media channels, or join us on discord, where we discuss all things black metal! Make sure to follow our Facebook page, Black Metal Zine, to receive notifications when we publish articles. Also check out our Instagram at @blackmetal.zine for concert pictures and more! And if you’d like to, you can also submit your review of an album you like.