Ghül – Rhîw

The only way to describe this work is “noisy and primitive Black Metal”, and the entity called Abghül will become our guide through this Tolkien abyss!

The first attack is a compendium of blast beats, screams and guitars that tread close to the path of noise. In ‘Yá Hrívë Tenë I’, they lower the speed of the drums, but the rhythm is repetitive, wrapped by a wall of black and jagged frequencies vomited by the guitars to, after 6 minutes, add an outro set with keyboards, giving it a gloomy and mysterious shade. The next track is a continuation of the keyboard and ambient sounds of the previous track until the wound is left open for ‘Yá Hrívë Tenë IV’, which is a total surprise since it is the closest thing to a storm of blood and laments.

The incessant hammering on the snare drum with the gravity technique gives a different texture to this song, which is another nod to Noise (but without as much experimental chaos as this style of metal has accustomed us to) to return again to the slowdown formula and ambience of guitars dying at the feet of the mid-tempo rhythm. I have to say that the album is concatenated by intros and outros that serve as links.

‘Yá Hrívë Tenë V’ makes clear what I said before since it is an intro of almost 6 minutes, and it joins with the last piece of the work where the feeling of overwhelm can invade the inexperienced listener—ambience of guitars and keyboards, something that in the past we could hear in Burzum, take possession now with the slightly distorted screams feeding that overwhelm in each consumed second.

This work Abghül shows us in its entirety the way of composing and materializing Black Metal in a very personal and uncompromising way. Another thing that I notice is how prolific this musician is since in two years of existence of Ghül he already has in the bag 3 full lengths, several EPs, and singles. The truth is to take this into account.