Black metal is a strange art indeed. How can anyone else but the most hardcore of black metal maniacs appreciate an album recorded so intentionally lo-fi because it strikes the charm? From pioneering bands such as Darkthrone and Ulver, raw necro black metal will always be something of an irony. An acquired taste if you will.
Enter the world of mysterious black metal artisans Wóddréa Mylenstede from the UK. Their split with Black Cilice a few years ago created waves in the underground. Now, they release their long-awaited full-length effort for Altare Productions / Legion Blotan, an underground label by design, because black metal this good rarely makes it to major labels at all. This is suitably underground and meant for the elite few.
The album’s name is Créda Beaducwealm and the album cover is as minimalist black and white as they come. The cover should draw discerning maniacs and pundits all over the world in search of the rarest of rare black metal releases. Exclusive here on Cvlt Nation is the stream that evinces their genius. Play on.
The rung notes sound so dissonant and out of this world, you won’t swear you’ve taken a step back into black metal 101. Sometimes, the rung notes are all you can hear besides the maniacal rhythms, the beats burgeoning without much bass rumble, like skeletons banging against a dark corridor. The beats themselves sound syncopated on occasion. I’m not certain whether the band is using a live kit, or the pulse of this record is just machine-made noise in the superlative sense. Never once does Créda Beaducwealm sound predictable. Let end-of-year lists be populated with bands so obviously inferior to Woddrea Mylenstede. The proud heritage of black metal is preserved for the few that can capture black metal in its essence.
And does Wóddréa Mylenstede do just that. If anything is to top enhanced production qualities and black metal with insanely catchy hooks, these are the guys to do it. Put it in the books. Raw black metal is good again.
The song sequence is just as majestically-arranged as the music itself is. Track six, closer “Hygecraeft (Eardgiefu)” is such a monster, with such wailing screams and slow lurching descent into darkness that your opinions of black metal majesty will be supremely altered. In case the last track rolls around and you haven’t made up your mind about, Créda... you may never appreciate what black metal first sounded like, or what it was meant to sound like, before hordes of bands copied and aped the unique style.
This is an end-of-year lister if I ever heard one. Forget all the mainstream bands that try to capture the same old headbang-friendly clichéd metal that has rendered art like this obscene. Nevermore will Wóddréa Mylenstede need to take heed to the genre’s lesser practitioners. Listen to this sovereignty of black metal elitism to quench your search for essential listening. Stop glorifying black metal albums that pale in comparison to true classics. Black metal has always brought the listener to another world subterranean to our own. Let your search for true black metal art start here.
