The Norwegians aren’t new around. They exist since 1994, something that you can see from both the cover and the back sleeve! They debuted in 1999 with a 7 year gap between their 2nd and previous 3rd albums. At the very beginning of ‘Malicious Pride’, this year’s 4th effort, albums such as ‘Emperor’ or ‘Mayhem’ 1st albums, then –less rock ‘n’ roll- ‘Carpathian Forest’ and as it goes on Darkthrone. Just the right thing for fans of the 2nd black metal generation that enjoyed attack and not mythologies!

In opposition to many younger alike acts, they have their primitive influences from the masters of this style (e.g. ‘Bathory,’ ‘Celtic Frost’) and not from the Norwegian students, mentioned above. This fact, that they made these albums ‘first’, leaves ‘Svartahrid’ in second place… but not really sweaty! All is in place: their ‘iron-sounded’, ‘dirty’, ‘pessimistic’ riffs; Istar’s true and passionate growls; keyboards just escorting or involved partly in intros; some Norwegian lyrics; all like then! Nothing here sounds like the second half of this decade; the band goes ’til mid-nineties…

As this generation’s merchant I have to say it was an overwhelming experience for me! I loved the voice stretching at the end of some long screams, the ‘clumsy’, ‘impolite’ drumming and the crazy riffing! ‘Svartahrid’ are really great here, even if this had to come out 14 years since the genre’s classics. However, I believe in the future we’ll speak with quite flattering words about this album. Let’s look for the previous 3…