Label: Independent
Genre: Black Metal
Length: 16:48
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After a debut album entitled The Reverend in 2024, Swedish black metal band Svartlod return this year with a new EP just as intense: God Plague. Released in digital format independently, this EP confirms the band's raw talent and relentless direction. Formed in 2022, Svartlod have already made a name for themselves on the underground scene. Regular readers of the blog discovered them last year through the review of their debut album and the interview available here: The debut album of Svartlod and the true story of a murder: Cantor's captivating tale.
Lasting 16 minutes and 48 seconds, God Plague features four tracks of direct, uncompromising black metal. The guitars are fast, sharp and cutting, the drums pound relentlessly, taking up the whole of the soundscape, while the vocals, hellish and possessed, evoke all the fury of second-wave black metal. Despite this intensity, the production remains of good quality, allowing each element to breathe without attenuating the brutality. The influence of Mayhem and the emblematic figures of the 90s Norwegian scene is undeniable throughout the EP.
One of the highlights is the vocal entrance on the opening track Dirge of the Wretched Fallen. The voice erupts with violence, carried along by a frantic rhythm, while the drums crush everything in their path. A startling, chaotic beginning that sets the tone. The second track, Sermon for the Only Begotten Son, is notable for the heavy atmosphere that sets in from 1:56 onwards. The atmosphere becomes gloomy and oppressive. The composition evolves towards a sombre finale directly reminiscent of Mayhem. I've added this track to my annual black metal playlist.
The third track, Mirabile Dictu, impresses with its vocal performance: high-pitched, wrenching, almost inhuman screams that express demonic anger. The EP closes with Domkapitel, without doubt the most accomplished track in terms of composition. Alternating frenetic passages with slower, more anguished sequences, it reveals a more nuanced side to the band's songwriting. The finale, with its distant cries against an ambient background, ends the listening experience in a spectral, oppressive atmosphere.
This EP confirms the band's artistic direction: cold, savage black metal, viscerally rooted in the roots of the second wave. A must-have for worshipers of extreme, dark and authentic sounds.