Heáfodbán – Blódwracu review – Metal Storm

01. Brand Of Rope
02. Spears Of Eternity
03. Thorns In Soles
04. The Wheel Bleeds Our Sacred Hearts
05. Arrow Of Water
06. Reaping Nativity
07. A Trail On Your Skin
08. Heáfodbán
09. Sleep Has His House

Heáfodbán is a Pacific Northwestern experimental black metal band, formed in 2021. This four piece band is a “red anarchist black metal” band that has a particularly psychedelic and chaotic sound. With mixes of ambience, death metal, folk and folk metal, and harsh electronics, this band’s sound pushes boundaries texturally.

Amongst their five distinct releases, Blódwracu is by far their most expansive and sonically gratifying to date. Their typical brand of chaotic, raw, and brittle black black metal, chock full of emotive vocal performances and melancholic riffs in conjunction with the softness of the neofolk-esque performances, creates a vast and despondent fury of depressive expression.

The arrangements on this record utilize numerous instruments that are more common in folk metal, such as flutes, horns, and numerous orchestral string varieties to bring even more life to these pummeling black metal performances. The drumming is outstanding, creating the bedrock of the majority of the album. The intensity at which these drums are being played feels like the purest embodiment of catharsis and explosivity. The vocals are monstrous, with numerous vocal styles being utilized by the lead vocalist. There are death metal-esque growls, depressive shouts and howls, and throat shredding screams that punctuate the mix fantastically. The guitar tones are frosty and brittle, while remaining deeply emotive. With each tremolo-picked riff, you hear melodic sensibility, as well as pain and pure expression.

All of these parts are heavily accented by raw and psychedelic production, along with neofolk-inspired acoustic pieces that pepper the album beautifully. The dynamism/ juxtaposition of the softer apocalyptic folk embellishments and the extremity and ferocity of the “war metal” pieces allows for this monstrous two-hour epic of an album to feel thoroughly compelling.

Another incredibly interesting aspect of this record is the duality of each half of the album. While the first half delivers some of the best and most interesting DSBM-adjacent material I’ve heard in a long while, the second half features some of the most texturally gratifying and hypnotic drone, ambient, and neofolk pieces I’ve heard in a long time as well, incorporating the same psychedelic atmosphere that was so prevalent to the first half to each drone and ambient passage. It feels like you are being folded into music created by the cosmos, depicting Earth and mother nature. There is even the inclusion of a Current 93 cover that fits absolutely seamlessly. This interpretation of David Tibet’s (lyricist, vocalist, and electronic musician for the seminal neofolk band) poetry and style of apocalyptic folk is mesmerizing, and fits within this massive world that Heáfodbán has created.

This is a truly unique and fantastic extension of psychedelic music, raw/depressive black metal, neofolk, and extreme music as a whole. What this band did with this record is beautifully moving, texturally/sonically gratifying, and musically impressive all in one. I will be looking forward to the next releases from this band in the near future. Check this out, it will be worth your time.