Sorgeldom is a relatively new Swedish three piece that started out as a depressive acoustic act, but later began incorporating a large healthy dose of black metal. The opener “Insikter” with its reverb drenched instruments lulls you into a relaxed trance, eventually leading into the next song “Oroväckande förlust av ett förlorat förstånd ” where you’ll instead be met by ferocious (crisp and extremely trebly) guitars and blast beats. In fact this is really the formula for the whole album, dreamy guitar arpeggios swap back and forth with black metal assaults.
While it may not sound too original, they undoubtedly have a sound all their own, providing more of a shoegaze meets black metal sound somewhat like Alcest caught in a Swedish blizzard hell. While it can get a little repetitive at moments (most songs are around 10 minutes in length… fitting for those song titles), thankfully the music is far from dull. An extremely impressive debut, and hopefully more black metal acts will realize that depressive music doesn’t require you to be a cheap Burzum clone. (JakeMcC)
