Koldbrann - Moribund

KOLDBRANN - Moribund (NORTHERN SILENCE Productions - LP 2006)

This morning I decided to give a listen to the newest Darkthrone song from their recently announced album "Old Star". And again, I'm absolutely not happy with what they recorded, it looks like it's gonna be another Darkthrone album, which I'm not gonna bother to buy. It's weird, because they used to be my favourite black metal band and I loved all their records, not only the early classics, but also "Plaguewielder" or "Sardonic Wrath" sounded awesome to me. But after them, I just don’t like the direction their music went at all. So, I've been thinking what can I do with this disappointment. Well, I can obviously play records from other bands, which do the Norwegian black metal that Darkthrone (among others) created in greater and far more superior style than "Old Star". My choice for today is "Moribund" by Koldbrann. This isn't new album, because Northern Silence Productions unleashed the vinyl already in 2006, but to this day it belongs to my favourite black metal records from Norway past the year 2000. If you seek for the traditional harsh, cold and grim black metal from Norge, which would still sound interesting and fresh, this is one of those albums you need to grab. 

Definitely both Koldbrann’s leaders - Kvass and Mannevond (who's also in another my favourite band Djevel) - composed a killer black metal record. Their recipe was to stay faithful to the origins of the scene in Norway, so you can blindly say that Darkthrone, Satyricon, Dodheimsgard, Kvist, Gorgoroth, as well as some later acts like Taake, 1349 and Urgehal, had to have the influence on Koldbrann. But they had to try to come up with something more than a boring copy of Darkthrone riffs and song structures. And they succeeded, hence the quality of songwriting on "Moribund" is superb. There's a whole lot of killer riffs, even some melodic parts, which complete the album just perfectly and give a desired diversity to it. There's plenty of fast paced, simplistic parts ("Steinet til jorden" for instance), but for me mid or even slow paced fragments are the real juice of this album. This is when Koldbrann sounds the best, especially when the music gets this mesmerizing feel, accompanied by cold and absolutely grim atmosphere. Yeah, I'm immediately caught in that malicious and eerie black metal maelstrom and cannot stay away, so attractive it sounds to me. I dare to say that at times this music can sound memorable, even for such an obscure and aggressive black metal effort. But listen to such "I suveren forakt" as one of many examples. When the riffing turns into that melodic pattern towards the end of the song, it just gives me goose skin. So godly it sounds! And it's just one of many such fragments. I could also mention "Skvadron" here, for having some very different ideas in the song when compared to the rest of the material (including a clean guitar in the middle of song). And "Av sjel stagnert" with quite melancholic feel at some point. 

I do admit that near the end of "Moribund" becomes a little bit too long though. While there's absolutely nothing wrong with songs on side D, it may feel like the album had a stronger impact if was a bit shorter. At some point you start to have a feeling of small repetitiveness, which doesn't really ruin the album and should not have an impact on the atmosphere and general reception of the music, but I suppose it wouldn’t harm if they cut ten minutes of the whole sixty minutes. 

So, is it the True Norwegian Black Metal then? Definitely it is. 

Standout tracks: "I suveren forakt", "Skvadron", "Av sjel stagnert" 

Verdict: 85/100