Vuyvr are a brand new breed of black metal band coming out of Europe, Switzerland to be more exactly. Gathering members from well known bands such as Knut, Impure Wilhelmina, Rorcal and Elizabeth such gathering could only result into something very interesting and really worth taking a look.
Vuyvr’s debut album, “Eiskalt” is one of the most fresh and stimulating albums coming out this year that will probably shock the most puritan of the black metal puritans while on the other hand, it will please many of the new generation of black metal fans out there.
Influenced by the old masters the genre, Vuyvr’s sound appears to be quite traditional yet it contains a big dose of originality for it to be contextualized into nowadays. “Eiskalt” is one of those albums that after a first hearing it might not glue immediately with us, this specific case is one of those albums that must be assessed with particular attention and specially, with time for you to discover them buried deep in the frost which abounds in this album. Only then you’ll see that the more you listen to it, the more it will grow on you. Vuyvr’s sound is all about simplicity, releasing great sharpened riffs that could cut a mountain into half and vocals with that just right amount of harshness, fitting perfectly into the this kind of record you’re about to hear. All of this entangled in a very stripped down, raw, straightforward production.
Let’s look a little bit more inside this Swiss blizzard..
The band begins immediately by releasing the wolves with “Hoch“, which is sung entirely in their native language. A veritable whirlwind of blastbeats served on a platter of raw riffs. “Betrayers Of the North” could might be a track coming from bands like Immortal or any other band of true Norwegian black metal, continuing the same vortex that opened the doors of “Eiskalt“, Vuyvr continue to flare path with their incendiary avant-black metal with “War Of 100000 Centuries ” that opens with a very commanding tone, a track that drinks inspiration directly to its title, it’s one of those songs that if we close our eyes, we can see inside our heads, the image of hundreds or even thousands of warriors marching into the battlefield on the verge of bursting into an epic war scene and Vuyvr take the roll of the infamous bard that will be are singing about this bloody event in the future.
“Disfigured By Hatred” is another one of those tracks filled with epic and razor sharp metallic riffs carrying that scent of black metal with the seal “made in Northern Europe” although it is interpreted here into a more contemporary context. “Idolatry” is perhaps one of the best themes of the álbum, at least it is one of my favorites. Those initial riffs are simply delicious, exhaling and creating an atmosphere of decadence and misanthropy. While the following track, “Slaves” is a discharge of more poisonous black metal holding some melodic contours around it.
While this album is formed by 90 percent of raw, cold and sharp black metal, the band surprises us with tracks like “Dead Trees Are Wandering At Night” whose rhythm seem to cradle us in a swing between a more Machiavellian world and a more melancholic one, leading us through surreal and fantastical scenarios. In the end we get so absorbed by the music of Vuyvr that we forget that we’re facing the debut album of a band that was formed very recently.
“The Wyvern“, the closing track, crawls under mournful notes that creep smoothly down inside of us and sets the tone for the album’s most melancholy track, clearly the opposite of how the album opened. It ends the record almost by a way of farewell, sadness but also with some bitterness within. An almost instrumental track if it wasn’t for those frozen screams that come out ripping the track near the end. Almost as an unrestless spirit that didn’t want us to go out in peace and came back to haunt us.
Despite being a very young band integrating the new roster of bands of this so called “new wave of black metal”, i feel that Vuyvr have a strong connection to the past by demonstrating the colder and sombre face of black metal incorporating modern elements into it. Although the band is new it holds some scent of old, if you know what i mean. With this piece of work, “Eiskalt “, forged in the fires of Hell, they have created a true essay of black metal to which their old compatriot guardians i’m sure must be very proud of and clearly will leave no one indeferent to. An album that catapults the band directly to the forefront of the european post/avantgard black metal scene right next to acts like Terzij de Horde, Rorcal, Abaton and many others.
“Eiskalt” is already available in physical release through France’s Throatruiner Records and Blastbeat Mailmurder from Greece coming in a glorious 180g piece of wax with an amazing artwork illustrated by the talented Richey Beckett. The digital version is also available in Vuyvr’s Bandcamp for those who can’t stand those stupid shipping rates. Follow the band through their Facebook page here.
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