On March 21st internationally, Purity Through Fire is proud to present A.H.P.’s highly anticipated second album, ‘Alltid Imot Deg’, on CD format. The vinyl version will follow this summer.
Formed in 2011 in Bergen, A.H.P. are something of a “dark horse” within Norwegian Black Metal: their sound isn’t Norwegian Black Metal Exclusively, and band founder / songwriter Gulnar originally hails from Poland. However, being something an outlier has made A.H.P. all the more unique. From palatably varied songwriting to a more mechanistic soundwall, from tastefully unexpected cover-song choices to even-more-varied lineups, A.H.P. follow their own path, forged in fire, ice, and iron will.
Now, a full decade since their Against Human Plague debut album, A.H.P. return to reassert those unique virtues with ‘Alltid Imot Deg’. Comprising five songs in 41 minutes, A.H.P.’s second album is indeed more epic-minded than the first, each song creating a shapeshifting vortex where four separate vocalists narrate foul deeds and filthy states of the soul; among those guests are Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult’s Onielar. Gulnar rises to the occasion with songwriting that’s by turns stealthy, hypnotic, schizophrenic, and thuggish, but always, Always, is there an ever-building fountain of cold & crunching violence. That A.H.P.’s soundwall retains their elder Moonfoggy-mechanistic feel whilst emitting a sort of delirious humanity only makes ‘Alltid Imot Deg’ all the more compelling, and, always again, all the more unique. Still, the best is saved for last with the 15-minute title track, which is an awe-inspiring maw of impossibly alluring darkness; you will drown in this.
