Adrift

'Adrift' is the new split from US newcomers Dead as Dreams and One man French band Aurvandil (who has been active since 2006). The only previous material I'd heard from either band was Aurvandil's split with Halla the previous year, and while Aurvandil's side was good enough, it seems he were quite outshined by Halla. I was interested to see where he would go from there.

Dead as Dreams plays epic black metal influenced by Weakling (of whom they borrowed the album title as their band name). Maybe that's a bit of a stretch, they're not really as experimental as Weakling and don't carry any of the post-rock influences, and there's a much more pronounced Norwegian influence in the riffing. The vocals are of the Varg-derived variety that bands like Wigrid and Austere often employ, and they fit well with the epic, almost medieval sense of melody. The production serves this well, raw but with a nice amount of clarity in the guitar department to display the melody clearly, the bottom end filling up with a vast, cloudy bass sound. This isn't just about melodies though, as Eld's talent really shines through his compositional skill (I believe that 'D' also played drums and did backing vocals, although I'm inclined to believe that Eld is the brains behind the outfit). 'Cancerous Eulogy' stretches on for nearly 11 minutes, and each riff flows from one to the other effortlessly, all tempo changes sounding perfectly natural.

Aurvandil is similarly Norwegian-sounding in nature (Aurvandil currently resides in Norway, although used to live in France) as usual, although the music here is a lot different from his previous efforts. While Horizons had much more mid-paced material, with riffing reminding me a lot of Burzum's self-titled album, the music presented on Adrift is decidedly more fierce and intense. The Norwegian influence is still strong, though, Gorgoroth and Mayhem come to mind, and the very well programmed drum machine batters over everything, complimenting the well-written riffs. The vocals snarl in typical fashion over the top and serve the music well. Early on, Aurvandil sounded quite naturalistic, maybe a bit more resevered. Here, the must is wild and untamed, as if demonstrating the most dangerous and fiercest elements of nature, the occasional dips into quite, melodic fingerpicking feeling like a calm after a storm. Storm-like would be a good way to describe the music actually, it has a good chaotic feel but is still controlled to make good, coherent songs.

It's hard to say who's the victor in all of this. Dead as Dreams show a stronger (if only slightly) compositional skill, but Aurvandil present some much more intense material. My money's on Aurvandil personally, although both bands do a good job. A good 25 minutes of black metal here and recommended to fans of the Norwegian style.