Among the tiny yet turbulent new generation of the Norwegian black metal scene, Blodhemn are said to be the new Taake: besides being also from Bergen, they revolve around one sole proper member, Invisus, who plays all the instruments in the studio but uses session musicians live, writes all his lyrics in Norwegian and, like Hoest, likes to stir things up a little bit in between tremolo-picking blasts.
But the man is also a proud product of his times. Though his second full-length embraces all that made Norwegian black metal such a vivid force in the mid-90s with pride (its instantly recognisable roughness and sense of the epic), it also acknowledges that this is 2014.
So besides not relying on a pure necro sound, he doesn’t mind looking at later Immortal with their big-as-a-mountain and Wacken-pleasing riffs (Veiten) or to classic heavy metal with a Viking touch (Evig Heder) for alternatives.
If he seems to borrow more than he creates and his occasionally stiff arrangements betray his one-man-fits-all format, its surprising harmonic richness and obvious ‘trve’ faith in all things black is full of promise./o:p
