Review: Khold – Du Dømmes til Død

Band: Khold
Album: Du Dømmes til Død
Country: Norway
Genre: Black Metal/Black ‘n’ Roll
Label: Soulseller Records

Introduction:

The corpse-painted men of Khold hail from the mountain kingdom of Norway. Khold was formed 24 years ago in the year 2000. The band officially consists of four members, but there is also a fifth member in Khold. This member happens to be the wife of frontman Gard, Hildr, who is the lyrical mastermind behind all of their releases. Hildr also writes lyrics for Gard’s other band, Tulus, which involves several other members of Khold as well.

Khold have had a steady ouput to date and their latest release Du Dømmes til Død making their total counter tick to eight full-lengths.

I first discovered Khold ten years ago when the album Til Endes was released. At that time, I was a struggling teenager, and Khold completely spellbound me with their captivating guitar hooks and punchy vocal delivery. Their music served as a form of musical therapy for me. Since then, I have been a fan of Khold and Tulus, thus I’ve eagerly been awaiting their new release!

Du Dømmes til Død

Tracklist:

  1. Myrdynk
  2. Vannviddfaren
  3. Heks (Du Dømmes til Død)
  4. Skoggangsmann
  5. Misgrep
  6. Trolldomsdømt
  7. Lædel
  8. Galgeberg og Retterbakke
  9. Dølgsmål

Du Dømmes til Død, translates to “You’re sentenced to death” from Norwegian. The album consists of nine songs and has a runtime of 33 minutes. Straight from the start of track Myrdynk we are treated with classical slow and chewy riff’s, my head starts to nod, and Gard’s cold, and gritty vocals comes in with a story telling delivery, yet singing. Myrdynk has a slow pace, not unknown to Khold as a lot of their songs rest on a mid-tempo.

Myrdynk transitions into next track Vanviddfaren that opens with a greater tempo. Black ‘n’ rolly riffs are crushing my eardrums and grabs a hold of my attention. Vanviddfaren gives us great headbanging sections with the song breaking down to slower tempos torwards the end of the track.

The main attributes of Du Dømmes til Død are the groove and black ‘n’ roll elements. Pace switches from slow-mid-fast with chewy, heavy and melodic riffs. Sarke’s drumming is also on point with his nice use of cymbals and deep, void filling drum sound. One of my favourite aspects of Khold is the Norwegian lyrics written by Hildr and the lyrics on Du Dømmes til Død simply confirms my conviction of that!

The tracks all flow very well trough the album, making the 33 minutes fly by like lightning, making Du Dømmes til Død one of the strongest Khold releases to date.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed Khold’s – Du Dømmes til Død and will certainly come back to this album alot. I am a long time Khold fan and really like this type of groovy and headbang-inducing songs. I really look forward to catching them live at Inferno Metal Festival this coming week!

I am sure that Khold isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, they do not reinvent the wheel with this release, nor is that necesserely needed or desired. But give the album a chance, pop a cold beer and enjoy Khold’s groovy black ‘n’ roll that only Khold knows how to make.

Rating: 9/10

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Support Khold here: Bandcamp

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