Album Review: Gaahls Wyrd - The Humming Mountain
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Not really much of a shock to say that Gaahls WYRD’s 2019 debut full-length, GastiR - Ghosts Invited, was one of the Black Metal highlights of the year; so much so that it went on to be nominated for a Norwegian Grammy and be placed at number three in Rolling Stone magazine’s Top Metal Albums of that year.
Hardly surprising when you consider the driving force behind the band. No matter what you may think of him as a person or his politics, Gaahl, aka Kristian Espedal, is one of the genres most identifiable and visionary exponents. I met the man at Damnation Festival in 2013 when he appeared with God Seed and found him to be most pleasant and thoroughly accommodating with his time.
A brief glance through his discography and the likes of Trelldom, Wardruna and, of course Gorgoroth, show the versatility and range of his talent and musical vision. His collaborations with King ov Hell, up to and including 2012’s still majestic I Begin, are some of the new centuries most accomplished Black Metal releases, yet the King-less WYRD sees Gaahl spreading his creating wings and concerning himself less with the blast beat and more with the use of atmospherics and emotions.
The record’s title track occupies a similar space as God Seed’s Hinstu Dagar or Gorgoroth’s Sign of the Open Eye, with perhaps a little post-punk influence added into the mix. Musically heavy without being crushing, the rhythm section manage to maintain a sufficiently driven platform for Lust Kilman to conjure some delicate guitar moments.
The Dwell brings it back down to earth with the albums most aggressive five minutes. Pounding drums and frenzied guitars recalls the glory days of Twilight of the Idol and sees the band unleashed in one of the three tracks not used on the previous release but reimagined for this mini album.
The band revel in the experimentation of the music where they add keyboards and remove the bass, and this is particularly prevalent on Awakening Remains – Before Leaving with the keys acting as a portal to the ethereal.
The Seed and The Sleep bookend the record with the feel of Wardruna, particularly the nine minute The Seed, wherein the sparseness of the music evokes the kind of windswept vista synonymous with the genre as a whole.
Any release where we get to engage with the musical talent that is Gaahl is a real treat and The Humming Mountain is no different. Broad in its scope, yet intimate in its ferocity, WYRD have again put together a beacon for others to follow.
