Hailing from Sweden, Avskräde is fiercely committed to the old-school ethos of Black Metal. Their music is stripped-down and aggressive, rejecting a modern polished production.’Det stora tunga sjuka’ is their 2021 debut album on Purity Through Fire which we at the catacombs of VM-Underground almost shamefully missed.
Their approach is nihilistic and adversarial, embracing the usual themes of death, solitude, and suffering. And they are anti-mainstream, resisting trends like post-Black Metal or progressive variants – as the band states : “Black Metal must never become mainstream; it would be the death of the genre… Our music will surely evolve, but the old-school sound will always be something Avskräde holds high.”
Bold words – but can they walk it the way they talk it? Well – Avskräde evoke the true adversarial spirit of old through crude, nostalgic blasts of death-hailing, vintage Black Metal, their filthy strain of raw, traditional Black Metal transports the listener back in time and it’s almost as if the last 30 years didn’t happen.
The music is a refreshing foul blast of sonic malevolence reminiscent of Craft, Katharsis or Armagedda. The vocals remain a constant, vicious monotone rasp. Riffs and song structures bleed into one another, creating a harsh wall of sound on this ‘Det stora tunga sjuka’ album.
It’s really refreshing to hear a band that adheres to the tradition of foul raw continuation of Swedish fucking Black Metal. The album is almost 36 minutes of sheer black delight!
This is the way I like my Swedish trve Black Metal – check them out!
