Vonülfsrëich – Miasmal Winds

That the music of Vonülfsrëich has been changing from one release to the other was clear from their slew of EPs released since the band was born. This was possibly in part due to some changes in the line-up, which changed both with the passing of early bass player and vocalist Lempo in 2015, and the somewhat later entry of multi-instrumentalist Yonülf who joined the creator of the band, Fogg. But on the second album released in June 2022, the band seemed to have struck a balance between old school raw Black Metal and elements from Doom Metal and Punk. With that in mind, the latest full-length album ‘Miasmal Winds’ may come with more than a few surprises.

Gone are the tracks that last 14 or even 21 minutes. Instead, seven tracks that stay below six minutes length combine for a little bit over 30 minutes of music. Another big change can be found in the production. Where both previous albums had a pretty clear sound, ‘Miasmal Winds’ goes back to the Lo-Fi approach of some of the early EPs. And with it comes a return to the Black Metal roots of for instance their ‘Northern Shamanism’ debut EP, although that ironically sounded less Lo-Fi than the band’s third full-length. These recordings present Vonülfsrëich in their rawest form, combining Scandinavian Black Metal with a flair of Punk. There’s still a lot of Darkthrone and a bit of Gorgoroth in their sound, and more than ever does the early Mayhem sound surface as well. Clearly, this is as authentic and regressive as the band have sounded in a while, though the riffs and rhythms are quite creative and the years of experience composing music together shows through. ‘Winter Snake’ is the only track that hints at the Doomier history of some of the band’s other works, but is much easier to digest as it’s a lot more compact than some of the tracks on the preceding album ‘Ragnarök Rising’. In ‘Towards the Horns of Frost’ the band even offers an adventure into Dungeon Synth territories, but the majority on offer on the record is an excellent rendition of pure raw old school Black Metal.

Within an ever-changing discography, this is the latest twist in the music of Vonülfsrëich, one that will appeal most to those that appreciate the raw and Lo-Fi Black Metal sound of the band. So far ‘Miasmal Winds’ is only available on the band’s No Fun House bandcamp page, but a physical release through Fallen Temple will follow somewhere in 2023.