Release Date: 16 December 2022
Song Count: 6
Duration: 43 minutes, 34 seconds
Rating: 7.7/10
Description:
The takeover of our new surge of black metal does not stop there - although the territory we are stepping in resembles more traditional black metal more than yesterday's grounds -, as today's subjects are the Icelandic black metal band Misþyrming with their third and most recent full-length project Með hamri. According to the almighty creators of the album themselves, "there is plenty of nuance and subtlety in black metal, but the hammer leaves no room for interpretation", and given the past experimental or otherwise more innovative works of the genre we have covered, to return to the pure and untapped fundamentals of it through a brutally straight-forward collection of songs like this is a rather fresh experience of its own as well.
Unafraid to stretch its contents out with each of the six songs bar for one exceeding 6 minutes in duration, the way this album's sound is set up and manifested is deliberately as bare-bones as possible with its metal instrument line-up whilst simultaneously using its set baseline to play around with subtleties and intricacies around its grooves, riffs and hints of interwoven melodies. Though coated by a thick, impenetrable layer of musical heaviness with its power, distortions, brutality and extremities evident with every component, with the instruments as well as the growling vocals, Með hamri, as aggressive, loud and vicious of a record as it is, is far from simply a wall of noise, and has plenty of interesting elements to mentally hang onto to keep things engaging and interesting throughout. Examples of these include unique drumming patterns, menacing sounds of brass instruments blaring on, incredible skills on the guitar showcased in plain hearing and even a moment in the end of the fifth track "Blóðhefnd" where nothing but harmonious and chilling choirs are to be heard.
A truly terrifying work that does not play around, Með hamri manages to take every small positive aspect that makes up the foundations of the metal subgenre it finds itself faithful to and amps them all up to their highest degree, finding true artistry in the deepest depths of brutality and harshness. Some tracks highlight this effect better than others, however none prove to be any sort of real dud or barrier along the way, all perfectly matching the aim and passing the torch along, showcasing everything they have got before leaving way to the next chapter. Even with the described iron heel of black metal firmly stomping on the concept of major innovation, this album is a masterfully and extremely cleverly crafted piece of music that itself showcases what it means to go leaps and bounds while changing as little as possible about what it perceives as a tried and true formula - certainly a valid approach, and one that works perfectly here. Certainly more impressed with this one than I was expecting initially.