Tornekrans – Silent Whispers Echo from Forbidden Realms

‘Silent Whispers Echo from Forbidden Realms’ is the title that crowns Tornekrans’ first full-length after their demo last year, where they showed their teeth to the world with their cold and raw sound, so characteristic of the Norwegians in Black Metal. The new full-length welcomes us with a short folk introduction to leave everything served to ‘Døpt på blodets alter’, and without measuring consequences, the rawness is unleashed again. More than in force since the demo, I would say that now it is loaded with a devastating hatred. The guitars, sharp as daggers that fall from the sky on a cold night, are dismembering everything second by second. Along with the voice, this is the most outstanding duo that leads the attack.

The track ‘Suset fra sarte vingeslag’, in the middle of its backbone, evokes the magnificence hidden until now with bestial riffs riding the rhythm at half-time. With songs that range from 3 to 4 minutes in duration, the present attack flew by like an exhalation. ‘The Earth Drinks the Blood We Spill’, the first track with an English title that for some reason reminded me of Judas Iscariot, follows the same formula as the previous attacks with tremolo riffs almost in octaves, that is, high and jagged. The bass is appreciable and leads the way concisely without the need for exaggerated volumes.

‘I nattens favn’ displays some riffs with folk tunes that slide proudly while the drums march at a frenetic pace. I had said that this song moves with pride, and located in the middle, it must be like that, or I ask, “What’s the point of weakening the middle of the march?” It is that after this track, it seems that the creator of all, Torkus, has set out on a campaign to destroy everything. ‘Tåke & mysterier’ emerges with force and violence. The voices in this track seem to have greater emphasis, and the tremolo guitars are chewing riffs, repeating patterns that, like chisels, are marked in the memory, such as that closing riff that is an ode to Raw Black Metal loaded with unhealthy melodies.

Between the second track with a title in English (‘The Sun Sinks into Oblivion’s Abyss’) and track number eight (‘Månen kaster sitt bleke skinn’), a dispute arose as to which is the track with the best riffs and rhythms since both have all the elements of the album: folk, coldness, memorable riffs, rawness, and intensity. With some bridges joining links, although I think that the most outstanding bridge is found in ‘Månen…’, that almost halfway through, attacks with a tune that could seem a little happy, but is then accompanied by a second guitar doing some semi-solos, consummating other quite memorable ones. Repeating the formula at the end and closing the track in a good way, ‘Arvinger av en glemt skatt’ follows the same line and step of the previous tracks, so much so that it could easily be the continuation of another track, but that would be a sacrilege since nothing goes over 4 minutes on this album.

With an announcement of the guitars, ‘Vinden visker sin gamle sang’ is in charge of closing the work. This title translates to something like “the wind whispers its old song,” and if we sharpen our ears, we can hear behind the guitars those laments of ancient wars and the cries of the pagans fighting to the death. Being the shortest song on the entire album, it also had something to show. As I have already said, those ancient laments and cries were the cold tunes that were caught in the clutches of the guitars and delighted us throughout these 35 minutes with a gale of coldness and raw pride!