Til minne...

Trelldom is probably the most interesting side-project of Gorgoroth-vocalist Ghaal. It was started in 1993, yet only 3 albums were released, Till Mine... being the latest effort. And once again Ghaal gives us quality.

The core of this album is true, unpolished, raw black-metal, yet with a slight hint of folk here and there. The main difference between Till Minne and its predecessors is the fact that the folk-element is slightly more present than in the past. I can imagine this is not to the satisfaction of some BM'ers, but it gives the music a certain uniqueness.

Most of the album is fast-paced with occasional temposhifts and, as stated earlier, folk intermezzo's. The riffing is repetitive and almost hypnotizing. The best part however of the music is the vocals. Ghaal is a versatile vocalist and combines powerful screams with demonic whispers and even spoken word passages.

The production is quite thin, but the ballanced mix sets things straight in that field. After all, this is black-metal, not your average Bon Jovi million seller.

To some this album might sound a tad boring, due to the repetitive riffs. But I guess those into underground black metal will appreciate this element. Overall, this is a very decent black metal release: cold, raw, but also epic and majestic. And who's not in for that?

Trelldom - Til Minne 67%

I really enjoyed listening to the past two Trelldom releases, although they weren't particularly original. Therefore, I was extremely exited when I found out about the release of this album, hoping it would compare to the other two albums, "Til Evighet" and "Til et Annet". However, as I listened to this release, it became very apparent that the 9 year gap between the album releases changed the band's sound radically and not in a particularly good way.

In the previous albums, it was Gaahl's vocals that really set Trelldom apart from the rest of the pack; they still stand out here, just not in a particularly good way. I was shocked at how much Gaahl's vocal style had changed: he still has a good variety of different sounding pitches, but gone were the high-pitched, distorted vocals of Til et Annet. Instead we have him doing the most indescribable screeching type of vocals that I have ever heard in my life, which sometimes was akin to the racket of a crying 12 ear old. In some tracks, such as "From this Past", it sound relatively good, but most of the time it really doesn't. This vocal style suits Gorgoroth very well, but during most of the songs, it made me want to trash my speakers. On the plus side, there are a few very well done spoken-word passages, which is a nice change from the usual shrieks. The drums and guitars, while well played, get very repetitive very quickly; almost all the songs consist of one or two riffs and one or two beats. In "Steg", it works relatively well, the almost constant blastbeating and aggressive guitar work, not to mention the spoken-word passages, bring to mind the cold mountainous landscapes of Norway. However, the strange sound sample playing at the same time somewhat ruin this vision. The final track, Eg Reiste i Minnet, is mostly a a beautiful, complex violin piece, followed by Gaahl moaning for about 20 seconds until the end.

Detaching myself from their previous work, I would have to say that this is a somewhat uninspired, but good Nordic black metal release. However, if you are a '90s Trelldom fan as I am, there is a high chance you shall be sorely disappointed.

Standout tracks: Fra Mitt Gamle..., From this Past, Steg