Transformed by illuminating nightmares of restless flesh, called forth to strike by auld fantasies of subterranean flames and made zealot by the blood-boiling shriek of the ancient spiritus Stockholm, Sweden-based melodic black metal duo Grafvitnir return for their ninth full-length album with a newly ‘vigorated and sprawling set of spells to cast upon the willing devotee and the unsuspecting marauder alike. Invoking a hard turn back to the embrace of the natural world and the oaken magic held withing that bond ‘Into the Outer Wilderness‘ offers a step into a portal of blood-hunger, predatorial skirting, and fantastical scenes of horror-rites as visions of sacrifice to now forgotten gods become more than illusory thoughts. The knowing ear can expect nothing short of self-made mastery from these devotees to regional melodicism here after years of pristine iteration, a level of riffcraft years-honed yet still passionately struck within each new chapter released.

Grafvitnir formed back in 2007 by way of Niantiel as a logical step taken beyond the dissolution of Fyrdung as that band began to fully embrace a black metal style over the course of a decade. It took roughly five years to put together a new self and work up to a higher professional standard but the releases would soon flow heartily with nine fully realized recordings having released in the last eleven years, all of them in a traditional 90’s Swedish melodic black metal style. That sound lands upon my ear somewhere between Setherial‘s aggressive moves made on ‘Lords of the Nightrealm‘ and Sacramentum‘s more similarly heated acts on ‘The Coming of Chaos‘ where each group had taken complete steps taken away from the ex-death ’til melodic black paradigm in helping to define the late 90’s Swedish black metal style at a certain level of refinement; Fans of the aggressive precision of Thy Primordial and the brutal pulverization applied to post-‘Storm of the Lights Bane‘ era black metal out of Sweden (see: post’95 Mörk Gryning) will appreciate the steadfast approach of this artist beyond their third LP (‘Necrosophia‘, 2015) which has served as their major milestone, general blueprint for style and melodious yet aggressive idyll enforced since then. With those examples in mind the self-applied “Nordic occult” black metal label from the band makes greater sense as we find some of the severity of certain Norwegian black metal impetus likewise informing much of what Grafvitnir does with the riff and a ruinous pace. A full listen to the album and special attention paid to the riffcraft on Side B (especially “Seekers of Fire”) will reinforce this thought down the line.

In short, unflinching. — In truth I could simply cut-and-paste a lot of my observations made when reviewing ‘Keys to the Mysteries Beyond‘ (2017) and my review of its follow-up ‘Venenum Scorpionis‘ (2019) in the sense that if you have educated yourself to a scholarly knowledge of Swedish melodic black metal and some of the related formative Norwegian black metal structures nearby you’ll immediately understand the entirety of what Grafvitnir does. Identifying style is not the real work to be done here nor is getting a sense of exactly who this approach will appeal to, that much is obvious, instead where I’d extend the argument for an album like ‘Into the Outer Wilderness‘ is in the anomalous ratio of quantity and quality found in their discography. That is to say that while I did not get a chance to cover ‘Death Wings Widespread‘ (2020) and ‘Tunes of Sitra Ahra‘ (2022) more recently I’d felt no apprehension approaching them (and now this new album) with the bar set high by consistently high quality riffcraft being the backbone of this project. There is no persistent flaw, no errant annoyance or desperate strike into gimmickry here and instead Grafvitnir once again focus on guitar-driven melodicism at a warrior’s pace as a their major voice.

The choice refrains of the opener/title track impress up front, the staggered battalion-sized kicks of “Venomous Incantations” continue that thread of occult-fantastical imagery envisioned and the glowing light of snowfall found within “Lycanthropic Litany” certainly bears the icier touch of Dissection-era black metal with standard heavy metal shaped ~five minute black metal pieces. Grafvitnir had nailed their production values some time ago, making only very small tweaks to their sound per album but this one I’d say emphasizes the presence of the real drum sound to a strong degree and this means certain fills should give an intense ‘Far Away From the Sun‘ feeling, especially the tunefully jogged-out “Där Köldvindar Skriker av Hat” which serves as a strong mid-album highlight for my own taste.

Perhaps considering the flow of the album a bit pristine, beauteous and wizened in its conductorial sway Side B takes a heated dive into faster pacing, catching my ear consistently with the burst and stab action of “Through the Witchcraft Door” which recalls much of what I’d loved about the hissing, unrepentant hateful spirit of Grafvitnir‘s first three or so albums. With a quickening pace on a few of the final pieces on the album and more spiraling, ‘traditional’ black metal riffs I’d felt there was some level of Norwegian classicism shining through here and there (especially on “Seekers of Fire”) but there is no shortage of precedence for these developments within Swedish black metal rooting. The song I’d highlight most per my own fixation is the fluid, wrathful motions of “Urtidens Becksvarta Arv” which to be feels like the most key piece, the point of emphasis the artist presents in the greater arc of the record as these nightside-scaling riffs intensify on the back half of the record. This is the storming pay-off for concerted listening, a possession by ancient spirits which includes this remarkably strong bass guitar voice humming within the cyclonic motion of the piece. Anyhow, folks well attuned with the history of melodic black metal will naturally find their point of zen-like fixation as the album’s showing resolves unto a glorious end.

I’d ultimately have to appreciate the persistent pursuit of perfection and refinement Grafvitnir have presented over the course of nine albums, finding no level of burnout or tiredness with such an exacting authorship applied to this specific niche-crafted sound. The spiritual connection to place and the identity achieved within this level of focus is admirable for the sake of such consistently enthralling results, of course it’d be a different story if the quality might dip but thus far I see nothing but a black sunlit rays alight today and on the horizon. A high recommendation.

---