Into the limitless, irresistible vacua of the unknown shadow… That which looms on the far side of life inspires the elegant dementia of riff and wrath by way of Danish melodic black/death metal duo Sort Sind, an entity which convulses and lacerates the senses by vortices of ancient obsidian spell which is yet modern in whorl. Brief yet impactful, their debut full-length album, ‘I Skyggen af Livet‘, wastes little time with repetition or overwrought atmosphere in crafting an unusually economical and riff-oriented ideal. As a first showing beyond a promising demo tape these results are all-pro, readied and cutting well past the point of formative thought to the point that their statement may very well be too potent an introduction for those who’ve comfortable with the filler-craft of nowadays black metal.

Sort Sind formed in 2020 between maestro M. Friborg (Sulphurous, Taphos, et al.) and drummer Tuna (Apparatus, ex-Phrenelith) who both feature in Hyperdontia among several other bands/projects. Again we find ourselves surrounded by some of the best death metal composers of the last decade who also happen to be rooted in the Copenhagen area scenery, this time around their intent seems to be primarily sourced from combined interest in classic 90’s death metal and its concurrent development alongside black metal largely limited to that particular decade. More precisely the style of melodic black metal arisen from the maturation of early death/thrash metal scenes toward black/death metal (1991-1995) as one could point to shades of Dawn‘s pre-’96 work (and perhaps Lord Belial‘s ‘Kiss the Goat‘) for general instruction on the pace, movement and simplicity of composition available to their first demo tape (‘Forkullet & Forbr​æ​ndt‘, 2020) and we will find subtler, darker shades of melodicism approximately as sophisticated as ‘Nær sólen gar niþer for evogher‘ or nearby within the best portions of this album.

We’ve no reason to too-closely study the old ways and seek references here beyond a general first impression but if you’ve investigated a certain melodic black/death metal niche to the point that groups like Blot Mine and late 90’s Abominant ring a bell you’re no doubt going to enjoy the density/quality of riff ideas and melodious stretches herein. — In terms of Dissection adjacent approaches to the Swedish death-to-black metal crossover I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest Sort Sind have any such goal, nor any retro-black intent but rather that their approach similarly comes from deep understanding of death metal riffcraft and dual guitar composition which fundamentally applies the root-kit, the early Unanimated and Eucharist-woven escalations (see: “Hævntorst”) and romanticist consonance of those forms and pressurizes them with a mayhemic black/death metal heat. This is the core knack available to ‘I Skyggen af Livet‘ as it builds to full brew and toils this sensation of “death metal gone black metal” up into a furor which isn’t overtly pointed at any given ancient scene. The brisk yet fiery ~32 minute sluice available arrives upon its natural first peak with the thrilling yet ‘old school’ set gusto of opener “Morke”, a starting point and a salvo to signal their grand arrival.

No keyboards, no suburban vampires, just riffs. — The true apex of the duo’s action on ‘I Skyggen af Livet‘ is built up toward throughout the whole of the spin, arriving upon the undeniable peak of its brisk ~32 minute run per a road which is paved, bulldozed-over with rushed riffs which jet between sky-beckoning arcs of melodicism and percussive, thrashing death black/death metal intensity. “Tomhed” offers a fine example of said balance of throttled death metal movement and black metal extravagance conjoined, an escalation of what came before it. The two main pieces of this puzzle arrive between “Fortærer”, where we could first begin to debate the death metal fortitude of the album as prominent as we step toward the ~1:42 minute mark. This aggression is fittingly overbearing as we stretch toward the theatric and nigh Norwegian touch of “Foragt” and its main guitar lines.

Much as I’d gotten a thrill from the dramatic, superior violence of those first four pieces it really was “Tomhed” that cracked my mind open and the final three songs on the album that helped this record leave its dent. “Sortsyn” generally reprises the profound black metal voicing the opener promised and presents a frame built for these movements from cleverly stated, rabid black metal riffs. While we find some German modern black metal groups and rare outliers able to convey melody through dual guitar tones atop an aggressive pace few touch upon the old feeling in terms of composition over render in the way that Sort Sind do; The pièce de résistance and the biggest rush for me as a huge fan of the more dramatic melodicism of old was was closer “Dysterhed” as Friborg‘s arrangements shove into the escalation of the first riff, a point of aggression which’d made a bigger dent in mind with each spin of the piece as it becomes the major refrain and verse riff of the piece.

While the action available to this album is slick and speaks in brilliant morbid black metal arcs it arrives with enough grit and violence that Sort Sind avoid making a precocious, noveau, or too-boastful first impression. If anything they’ve focused too heartily on tightly composed pieces, riffs which count alongside a low rate of repetition, to the point that the album is dense in structure enough that it might prove too compact to leave a specific enough indent on the average black metal obsessed mind. The more likely ultra-fan of this record will be death metal fandom with some interest in 90’s black metal of the rhythm guitar and riff-driven style with some viably mean melodicism involved. Those seeking exacting high-dramatic pulse an memorable songcraft will find ‘I Skyggen af Livet‘ quick to connect for its parity between skill and expression but sometimes at a loss for what will stick in mind beyond a badass riff or a glorious melody. The potential downside is that we never quite find an emotional center for the album beyond brutality and rage, yet from my point of view that’d be a satisfying result even if the band never seems to get lost in the moment and strike into their weird selves. This is not any sort of disappointment on my end as this seems to match the intent of the band and only adds to their strong voice within other death and black metal species. A well above average debut LP and an effort worth iterating upon many times over. A high recommendation.

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