FÖRGJORD - Ruumissaarna Pt. 1 LP
For years one of Finnish black metal's best-kept secrets, in recent times have FÖRGJORD sprung to prominence among the adventurous as practitioners as a strangely alluring sort of obsidian. Although existing since the mid '90s and patiently parceling out their recordings in an almost-clandestine manner, the upswing in activity began with FÖRGJORD's third album (and first with WEREWOLF), Uhripuu, in 2017 and was followed by the equally challenging Ilmestykset in 2019 and the comparatively more rockin' Laulu kuolemasta a year later. Among those three full-lengths, the Finnish trio solidified and strengthened their strident aesthetic - malodorous melodicism, hypnotically rendered through a ripped-raw soundfield, making their strangely hummable ruminations on triumph & tragedy sound all the more alien, each album unified yet unique within that aesthetic - and made it all seem effortless. And, at last, it seemed that the name FÖRGJORD was no longer a "secret."
Now, two years later, while the world is still cursed, FÖRGJORD return with Ruumissaarna Pt. 1. The band's sixth album to date, its title translated to English means "Sermon of deceased," and is part of a larger Ruumissaarna recording session: a thematically unified trilogy, but each to be viewed as independent entities. As such, it's perhaps logical that this FÖRGJORD full-length draws in elements of its three long-form predecessors - and of course, the long history of the band itself. Thus, we find the anti-"anthem" anthemics they've so made their own as well as a once-again-filthier fury; most compellingly, there's many more downtempo moments here that wobble between tense, red-eyed resignation and a sort of stifled-violence melancholy, as always draped in a blizzard of fuzz and mysticism. To be sure, there's many "rockin'" moments, as well, but they're whipped into ever-alien shape by FÖRGJORD's characteristically bent-askew melodicism and grim 'n' ghoulish execution. And, as the album feverishly flows onward, it takes on a gloomier aspect, creating an immersive full-length experience. To think that Ruumissaarna Pt. 1 is "the most important one of the trilogy" is daunting, indeed...
Black vinyl with insert.
Werewolf Records 2022
