Rating: 7.0

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2004

Record Label: Oaken Sheild/Adipocere Records

Track list:
1.In Melancholy
2.Griftevisa
3.Själslig Självdöd [mp3]
4.Vanmakt
5.Horns
6.Ridding a Pest [mp3]
7.Illdjarn
8.Solitude
9.Praise Suicide

Band Website: Blodsrit

Blodsrit – Helvetehymner

Naahz - vocals/rhythm guitar
Yxmardar - lead guitar
Fiebeg - drums
Brisheim - bass

This is a rather difficult album to review. I'm never one to bash anything for being generic, because I don't see the fuss about originality. I'd much rather listen to generic Darkclone or Bathoryclone #54435666 than some bunch of nerds trying to do something “different” and ending up sounding like a gay sex orgy. On the other hand, it's rather tricky to describe exactly why I like this sort of thing. You see, Blodsrit play extremely straightforward Swedish black metal. They're not doing anything which hasn't already been done by Sorhin, Watain, Thy Primordial or Lord Belial a dozen times before. On the other side of the pentagram, they're bloody good at what they do. This is extremely catchy, well played, arranged perfectly and even boasts a wickedly sharp production job courtesy of the late Mieszko Talarczyk. So basically, it's perfect if you like this sort of stuff, and rubbish if you don't.

But damn if this doesn't slay. The drumming is ridiculously tight, pounding away with the usual inhuman precision and sounding remarkably natural – no clicky triggers here. Everything flows just right – there's no pointlessly long passages or random tempo changes, so obviously they put plenty of effort into arrangements. As far as production goes, even die-hard bashers of black metal production will be hard pressed to find any weak spots here – everything is balanced, nothing overrides the mix or fades into obscurity, and it does this without the usual glossy sheen of Abyss/Fredman plasticity. The music mostly sticks to fast, cold black metal tradition, although they're not averse to the occasional appropriate experiment, as evidenced by some melancholic clean vocals over a doomy passage in “Illdjarn” and the subsequent cover of Candlemass's classic “Solitude”, which works surprisingly well – musically it's spot on, but the harsh vocals give it a completely different atmosphere. Some will scream “Blasphemy!” , but I think it's great.

There's 7 “proper” songs here all up, plus the Candlemass cover and a bonus track “Praise Suicide” which is possibly from a previous recording session. This all adds up to a solid 40 minute album which never fucks around, takes no prisoners and kicks your ass with maximum efficiency. If the bands I mentioned earlier make you want to burn your local church and impale the pastor with a sharpened fencepost, then I highly recommend investment.

January 31st, 2006