Wanderings

When I first heard ''Wanderings'', I thought it was terrible. The album does grow on you, however. The unprofessionalism was initially bothersome, yet I came to love it. It is very simplistic, yet it manages to create an eerie and melancholic atmosphere. There are clear Burzum influences, yet not so much so that it sounds like a complete rip off.

The tempo stays quite slow throughout, whilst the guitar plays a few couple of notes. The guitar work mainly consists of let ring and the likes, as well as a some powerchord, though typical metal traits like tremolo-picking and palm muting is pretty much non-existent on ''Wanderings''. In terms of guitar work, this album is somewhat similar to Burzum's ''Filosofem''. Where this album strongly differs from Burzum, however, is the song lengths. Only one song hits the 6 minutes mark, and most songs are between 2 and 4 minutes long.

What truly makes this album special, however, is the atmosphere. The piercing guitar tone, simplistic drumming and bad production creates an atmosphere of pure melancholy, coldness, grimness, and whichever other kvlt-sounding synonyms you can find. It is quite easy to get lost, for a lack of a better term, in this. It is oddly relaxing, and creates an essence of wandering through a dark forest during winter.

The vocals aren't too amazing however. They sound like the vocalist hasn't really rehearsed his shrieks, and they sound a bit weak. The vocals are a bit low in the mix, which does kind of hide its flaws, so the vocals are definitely bearable. I do find the vocals to be somewhat intriguing, as the lyrics on each song only contains a few lines, and are quite cryptic. Not so much so that it sounds like meaningless wumbo, yet cryptic enough to be interesting.

Overall, I'd say ''Wanderings'' is a pretty good album, though I think that only those already familiar with the black metal scene would enjoy it. I'll also just briefly mention bonus cover tracks: I don't really have any comments for the Judas Iscariot ones, as I don't know the band, but the cover of ''En Ring til å Herske'' is really bad. The vocals are even worse, the tempo is all over the place, and the hums are all wrong.

Best songs:
Fragments
Labyrinthine
Thorns