Published: August 19, 2024

In the almost quarter of a century of existence the Greek Black Metal band Dødsferd has spawned nothing short of an impressive back catalogue, with this newest effort ‘Wrath’, being the twelfth full-length instalment. Like with everything that lasts a long time, Dødsferd too has went through the process of natural progression and musical development. The result of almost 25 years of tweaking, refining and readjusting is come together splendidly on this latest piece of work.

It goes without saying that Dødsferd’s earliest work sounds a lot more primitive and rugged than how the later records crystallised, but the great common denominator running through almost the entire discography is one of utter misanthropy. That this is channelled and bottled up somewhat differently over time should be only natural, but musically the line remains fairly consistent.

It is clearly not just the production that has improved over the years, a trend that can be easily observed when listening through the historical exploits, it is especially the coherence of the music that has improved by leaps and bounds. On ‘Wrath’, in fact, all the main building blocks of the Dødsferd DNA are fused into the most homogeneous body that Wrath, the lone inspirer behind the band, has yet produced. The melancholic riffs, rocking drums and hypnotic melody lines form a beautiful yet oppressive soundscape, with the screaming and shrieking vocals providing extra discomfort.

In the past, Dødsferd has often been mentioned in the same breath with a lot of greats from the “Depressive Black Metal” niche or even placed in it themselves. For me personally, that label has never really quite fitted, the howling vocals and gloomy themes alone are not enough for that, but that there is an obvious echo of everything coming out of the Depressive (or Suicidal) Black Metal corner, that’s something that’s obvious. However, that particular atmosphere is still sufficiently combined with some more traditionally based Black Metal in which the riffs play a much bigger role.

It is this combination of atmosphere and strong riffs and the mature balance therein that makes ‘Wrath’ so far pre-eminently the strongest album from its impressive oeuvre. This musical maturity also makes the rather long tracks (ranging from 5 minutes to well over 13) do not feel like an eternity; a true testament to solid song writing and musicianship.