Album Review: Night Crowned - Hädanfärd
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
Unsurprisingly for a Swedish band whose sound is in the main melodic black metal, Night Crowned share members with a host of other outfits including Cipher System, Nighttage and Dark Funeral. This brings a wealth of experience to this sophomore album, and it doesn’t disappoint.
I’m unfamiliar with the band’s debut release ‘Impius Viam’ released on Noble Demon last year but this effort means I will be hunting it down for ‘Hädanfärd’ is a fine release. Full of melancholic soundscapes, ferocious yet depressive raging black metal and echoing the sound that filled the airwaves in Sweden in the 1990s.
The sound is big, dramatic and drenched in atmospheric elements. Soaring symphonic segments blend with each track, providing a landscape that is both ethereally beautiful yet horrifically dark. Initially planned as a double album (in English, as well as in Swedish), ‘Hädanfärd’ is now being released in the Swedish language only, which provides a creative edge and allows the reviewer to devote more time to the frenetic pace that the band generate.
It’s blisteringly heavy, underpinned by clever piano and symphonic elements, and whilst there are some standardised approaches, with the blast beats and walls of tremolo riffs, the band utilise clean vocals (provided by guitarist Joahn Eskilsson) as a clever foil to the savagery emitted by vocalist Ken Romlin, whose demonic roars howl across this album.
Tracks such as ‘Ett Gravfaest OEde’ and opening song ‘Nattkroent’ ebb and flow, pulverising in their sheer power but retaining the darkness and depressive nature of the music. The performances are powerful, with the band pulling in the right direction with ease. Harrowing screams spar with the dual guitar work, whilst Night Crowned can also take it down with the short acoustic title track, followed by the dramatic, towering ‘Gudars Skyming’.
There’s much to absorb in this album, and repeated plays are necessary to soak up the subtle nuances that are contained and hidden within the release. With dashes of harmonies and rich melodies as well as the more brutal and explosive elements one would expect, Night Crowned have delivered a ferocious and impressive second release.
