Unholdun – Fœhn

Unholdun is a French Black Metal band, or one man project to be precise. ‘Fœhn’ is its first full-length offering that is as solid as it is redundant. In some ways, Unholdun is the opposite of what Michelangelo managed with ‘David’. ‘David’ is perfectly imperfect whereas ‘Fœhn’ is imperfectly perfect.

Unholdun presents epically melodic and good structured Black Metal. It’s hard not to like Fœhn instantly, because it holds nothing offensive or extravagant. Every song is built around of plenty of riffs which all flow together well. The main focus of the riffs lies in melody, which gives off a rather accessible sound. The drums are perfectly in sync with the riffs and sound like they’re played on an actual kit. This manages to incorporate a dynamic, more lively, sound. Bandleader Chiambretto has a strong voice to top it all off. It is, however, a shame that all components to make a great album are present, but the package as a whole doesn’t stand out in any way. Unfortunately, had Unholdun been around in the late nineties, it would have greatly contributed to the genre’s descend into mediocrity and overabundance.

With ‘Fœhn’, Unholdun presents the perfect Black Metal album to get nobody truly excited about. Which is a shame, because the craftmanship is good. All it lacks, and thus needs, is an identity to stand it out from the crowd.