Rating: 8.8

Country: Sweden

Genre: Black Metal

Release Date: 2007

Record Label: Total Holocaust

Track list:
1.   Del I   34:25
2.   Del II   09:50
3.   Del III   06:09
4.   Del IV   11:00   

Total playing time   01:01:24

Band Website: Hypothermia

Hypothermia - Rakbladsvalsen

Kim Carlsson - vocals, guitar
Johannes - session guitar
Richard - session drums

Archetypical suicidal black metal, Hypothermia play glacially paced, fuzzed out Burzum/early Shining worship that's notable for mingling with jangly rock bridges in a manner that doesn't compromise the band's sacred birthright to write songs that are 10 minutes longer than they ought to be. I'll get this out of the way here: repetition is key. This is honestly some of the most repetitive metal I've ever heard, with riff patterns often jumbling together and seemingly transcending into a glorious static. I note this as someone who's usually into repetition; fifteen minute krautrock workouts? Sure thing. Drone endurance tests consisting of nothing but rumbling bass feedback? I'm game. Hypothermia, though, had even me gazing at my watch every now and then. This isn't to say the repetition doesn't work here, but you must disregard all external stimuli allow it to work; otherwise, the notes will invariably fly into one ear and out the other.

The rhythm section's not quite as binary as you'd expect for lo-fi black metal; the performance is totally elastic and human, and when the guitars lock into that cathartic repetition™, it's often the shifting time signatures that dictate the music's tone, bouncing from miserable and bleak to bright and catchy in the course of a single riff. As for Kim's vocals, they mainly consist of disembodied mewling, more wasted and disenfranchised than on the verge of hysteria as per his Lifelover vocals. The screams and howls are there, but they're sporadic next to the album's wealth of glass-chewing quasi-vocalizations. There's close to no bass, of course; it's all about that gnarled, razor-thin guitar tone flickering out copious amounts of throbbing Burzumisms and dramatically arpeggiated note clusters with bittersweet abandon for over an hour.

Did I mention repetition? Because the final track is a sprawling acoustic reprise of the first massively long song. Yeah, I hope you liked that riff the first 35 minutes around, because it's back for another ten sans the distortion. Now, If you're anything like me, you have better things to do than sitting through half hour-long songs, such as licking electrical outlets and sticking broken glass into your urethra. Luckily though, lengthy dirges are not just a crutch for Hypothermia, as their more concise material is equally competent (if not moreso); take song III, wherein one guitar churns out an ingeniously infectious chorus riff (one of those riffs that are so clever, you'd find yourself surprised if people failed to get a coherent grasp of what it sounds like if you transcribed it via "da da DAAAH"s), as the other arbitrates knotty counterpoint dissonance. So simple but brilliant. The rest of the album, however, is spread far too thin to warrant many casual listens, assuming you're a productive member of society.

I really like this album, but it's hard to listen to; Rakbladsvalsen so thoroughly blurs the line between pleasure and pain, listening to it should qualify as an act of masochism. Still, despite its penchant for incessant structural reiteration, Hypothermia is one of the few depressive black metal acts that doesn't inspire the urge to gouge out my eyes to prevent me from drowning to death in tears of boredom. The thoughts it does intend to inspire are no more wholesome, but at least it sounds good in the process.

July 30th, 2008