At the World of Untrodden Wonder

I do not agree with the people that want to declare Dawn's "Slaughtersun" as the last great classic album of the original swedish black metal scene. Although a fine album, it seems to me that it is a bit too full of itself and much too proud about its apocalyptic scenery without the perfect songwriting abilities to back up that bold claim of absolute annihilation of the soul. On the other side, Thy Primordial don't risk a big lip on their third offering and one of the last legendary swedish roars of pain and poetry, they deliver well crafted songs that feel like so much more than a backround soundtrack to their makers frustration. It's not easy to sustain a full album and the songs therein with swedish tremolo riffing and not much else. Keep them powerchords hot, baby, we're eatin' good tonight! Thy Primordial were never that popular and never will be (unless they murder someone right now!), they lack the flashy side of presentation and always concentrated rather on perfecting their style instead of inventing the next audience appeal stimulation dildo like Dissection, Marduk or Watain. But they were always the better musicians, especially when compared to the latter two. If there is someone out there that is seriously sitting in some kind of intellectual fever dream of the highest artistic idealism while listening to "Panzerdivision", let me know. That guy must be one truly disturbed individual.

The problem with the barred path to stardom for Thy Primordial lies specifically in the seemingly simple tremolo riffing school of Dark Funeral's "Whoops, almost got melodic there for a second!". By surfing on that difficult wave between monotone hypnotic swedish entropy and a disfigured, sickly but still hearty interpretation of melodic comfort, Thy Primordial do not make it easy on their listeners. One has to spend some time with these riffs, learn about their structure and the logic behind the spiraling winds of funeral tones and almost dancing red clouds from the land of graves and demonic folk tunes. And this method of guitar playing goes on until the end, there is no real immediate stop or hacking slam intermezzo, the melodies always intertwine on and on like a deranged low fi opera of Wagner, a composer that also refused to let things come to a halt via a crescendo. He said that life, thoughts and feelings never really end until death und his music should reflect that. The eternal melody, the heartbeat of the planet. The same goes for Thy Primordial on "At the world of untrodden wonders", they celebrate in a constant river of sound and never really stand still. If you want to beat the everloving shit out of me for comparing the eternal works of Richard Wagner to an album by a swedish black metal band, please don't. I am very brittle and I will apologize.

I never could define effectively the difference between stupid mindless blasting that bores you to death and elegant high speed mastery that really enhances the listening experience because objectively, there is none. Some drummers you feel and some you don't, it's almost impossible to explain why one set of relentlessly pounding jackhammer noise is more pleasing than the other. At first I thought that it all comes down to the general sound of all the specific parts of the kit and the riffs behind the hammering, but it has to be something else, also apart from the general quality of the fills or the dick measuring bpm counter. A real black/death metal drummer does not pose with his abilities, he pushes the songs forward without mercy, dances around between the instruments like he is an invisible ghost that is not even there. Yet everyone is breathing to his beat. The drummer of Thy Primordial is doing exactly that, he is one of the best in the business. His wild and strangely "folksy" style of sweeping across the land reminds me of that equally talented bloke from the norwegian band "Kvist", a band whose metaphysical cocks I have sucked in another review until I passed out from pure admiration. Good times!

Can someone tell me for the love of god why black metal vocalists from the nineties always sounded like they were close to dying in front of that studio microphone and why this sort of dedication seems to be a bit lost among modern bands? Sure, the singers of today are loud and brutal and perfectly photographed for their god damn Facebook page, but they almost collectively seem to miss that last step of fucking up your own throat to give your art the final brush of that sweet sweet merciless perfection. I just realised that I am now officially a whiny old fuck that is declaring the old times and musicians as superior. Damn you, Thy Primordial. I thought I had more time. You too, I guess, huh? The clean vocals on this album are not used very often, but the rich male baritone is tasteful, timeless and in sync with the general vibe of the music.

There we have it, an album for many lonely nights, a testament to the strange and wild animal that is black metal, an art form that sometimes and on this album especially feels like it should have never been born because it either does not fit into the world or dies without dignity when people try to make it fit. "At the world of untrodden wonders" encapsulates this dilemma with ease, it always feels a bit lost and uneasy, too distant from the rest of life to really celebrate any form of existence. Therein lies the beauty of the black metal of Thy Primordial, the ability to look at everything you hate and despise from the outside, to be free from it, at least for a second.

Every scene consists of leaders and followers and when it comes to Swedish black metal and Thy Primordial, we cannot ignore that they were not ahead of the pack. Even 16 years after the death of the band, one finds only three reviews for six albums. Guess this says a lot – but maybe not about the band, but about us, the ignorant fools who did not realize the talent and the skills of the Swedes. I cannot imagine how lucky leaders must be when having such competent followers.

It’s true that Thy Primordial did not add new elements to the black metal movement of their homeland. They offered the typical mix of brutality and this special melodicism that Swedish children seem to drink from their mother’s breast. One can say that their approach suffers from uniformity to a certain extent, because the devastating thunderstorm is almost omnipresent. But don’t jump to conclusions. The title track, for example, surprises with two breaks that surprise with almost soft melodic sounds and heroic, clean vocals (which reappear in the closer). It feels like catching a glimpse “at the world of untrodden wonder”. However, the title track marks one of the highlights here. Unfortunately, it has one thing in common with every other song: it suffers from the slightly noisy, not very transparent production. It seems as if Thy Primordial wanted to have a very powerful sound, but here this intention has been carried to excess. Especially the hyper-fast sequences lack clarity – and they dominate this output in an overwhelming manner. From time to time the album sounds like a death / thrash bastard with black melody fragments.

The songs deliver both: infernal sequences that make your blood run faster as well as (a few) parts which are going nowhere. The aforementioned defect of the mix makes it hard for them to develop their individuality and the whole is probably less than the sum of its parts. Nonetheless, the dudes give all that they got. Already the opener does not waste time and kicks off the battle with full instrumental power and an excruciating scream. No doubt “For Fires to Burn” marks a strong beginning. “The Burden of Time” is another gem of the album. It pays discreetly tribute to Attila’s priestly vocals on Mayhem’s masterpiece from 1994 and moreover, it shines with some excellent guitar lines. “To Ruin and Decay”, another extremely robust tune, concentrates on uttermost grimness and it is convincing as well.

Thy Primordial were great followers. They were part of a revolutionary musical movement I do not want to miss. Perhaps the name of their work promises too much, because they do not walk untrodden paths and I also see no wonder. But wait; there is at least a visual mystery. I cannot take a look at the artwork of “At the World…” without thinking of Benediction’s “Transcend the Rubicon”, although these two covers have not much in common. Maybe the picture of the album of the guys from the UK comes to my mind, just because of the fact that Benediction are competent followers as well.

"At the World of Untrodden Wonder" treats the listener to a wealth of melodic intrigue at a blistering pace. Song after song confronts the listener with a rapid succession of catchy riffs, sometimes building off one another, sometimes revealing a completely new invention and carrying the song in an unforeseen direction.

Tremolo picked guitar lines supply gripping melodic themes by stepping through progressions that are much more complicated than you typically find in black metal. There are no solos, but numerous bridges are utilized to divide songs into discrete sections. The drumming is very fast but sufficiently varied to challenge the ear. The vocals are a bright rasp and are delivered quite artfully, serving as a key rhythmic component of the music.

"Amongst the Chosen Lost" is an example of a track that exhibits a creative song structure, as it alternates between chaotic sections and a familiar, infectious riff. "Once on Fortunes Throne" is another outstanding track; after a furious sequence of turbulent riffs, the rhythm guitar finally settles into a comfortable pattern, and at once the drums starts to syncopate; there's no refuge from the anarchy. In fact it's tough to single out highlights, as I would consider eight of the ten tracks offered here to be excellent, with only the title track and the closing track detracting from an otherwise stellar album.

Thy Primordial set the bar high for melodic black metal with this album. The best comparison I can think of for the complexity, pace, and overall sound of this album would be Centinex during their best years (specifically, "Bloodhunt" and "Hellbrigade", but not their later albums). Thy Primordial themselves wouldn't manage to recapture the same intensity in their subsequent releases; I thought "The Heresy of an Age of Reason" was rather a disappointment. But don't miss a chance to hear "At the World of Untrodden Wonder"; it's a real treasure.