There’s a feeling I get when I know that summertime is here. Dread is one way to describe it, the short word answer is dread. I’m not scared of Summer, it used to be pleasant when I was younger and obviously, it wasn’t 116 every fucking day. Here in Central New Mexico, it has been over the hundred-degree mark for about three weeks now. People are on edge, and with no end in sight me and everyone else I know are trying to cool down by any means necessary.

You’d think that Black Metal would be accustomed to hellish heat on this scale, like a second global apocalypse. World misanthropy isn’t easy if you’re hot as fuck, so I was hoping that Ekrom would help cool me down at least in an existential sense. How did that work out? I’ll tell you in a minute, I have lead-ups to do still.

Uten n​å​digst Formildelse is of course, the debut album from these Norwegians after an EP in 2022 The Black Flames of Seth followed by the single for track “My End”.  Clocking in at an amiable 42:44 Uten n​å​digst Formildelse isn’t an overwhelming experience and is quite fun to listen to, these are eight tracks of vitriolic Black Metal madness beginning with the crushing opener “Bell Witch” that kicks off proceedings with suitable bombast, before Ekrom sort of reigns it in and lets the album find it’s footing with “the Black Flame of Seth” and “the Black Hearted Ragana”. I think what drew me to this album initially is that I hear Ov Hell, and Watain within the tremolo-picked chords and if I’m hearing Ov Hell then that means I’m hearing bits and pieces of Gorgoroth as well, and that’s perfectly fine with me.

At the heart of Ekrom’s debut is a landscape of forbidding Black Metal ice crevasses, bottomless and intimidating. A veritable “Abyss of Eternity” if I may be so bold, which makes this a solid debut that didn’t cool me down quite as much as I had hoped for but even that doesn’t really matter. I’m not going to whine because there’s nothing to whine about, and with a cosmically grand production throughout I can recommend giving this beast a listen.

[Visit the band's website]

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