The Norwegian Vemod is a band that was founded in 2000 but only occasionally releases new material. After a few demos, they released their only album, ‘Venter På Stormene’, in 2012, which I enjoyed very much. Fortunately, the Norwegians have now awakened from their deep hibernation and bring us forty-eight minutes of their own mix of black metal with shoegaze in ‘The Deepening’.
Unlike many neighboring bands in the Nidrosian Black Metal scene around Trondheim, Vemod’s music focuses mainly on the relationship with nature and philosophy. The album consists of four songs between six and sixteen minutes long, along with two short interludes called ‘Mot Oss, En Ild’ and ‘Fra Drommenes Bok I’. ‘The Deepening’ also features two English-language songs for the first time, titled ‘The Deepening’ and ‘True North Beckons’.
‘Der Guder Dor’ immediately puts us in a melancholic mood with a very musical guitar line that forms the thread throughout this song. Also immediately noticeable is the quality of the drum work, which through its variety breaks up the sometimes repetitive guitar riffs. With ‘The Deepening’, Vemod also delivers a more layered, more thoughtful work than their previous album. The influences of shoegaze are clear. All instruments also sound crystal clear with an excellent mix.
The effects on guitar and bass are well chosen and come into their own. Mainly the fifth song, ‘Inn I Lysande Natt’, is a good example of this. The six-minute-long song mainly revolves around one repetitive chord progression that is then fully experimented with other sounds and layers. Here too, the varied drumming returns. With the sixteen-minute-long title track as the final song, various elements of the other songs are brought forward and leave the listener with a feeling of melancholy, but also self-reflection and connection with nature.
It’s only January, but I have a feeling I could be revisiting this review in my end-of-year list.
Score: 92/100
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