I find this new offering somewhat difficult to review. You know, the prospects are loud and clear; a certain Varg Vikernes influence still rears its ugly head in contemporary black metal releases, so do the likes of Transilvanian Hunger and synthie-counteragents in the form of (less ambitious) Limbonic Art worship. Yes, the production favors loud, muddy guitars over everything else, these banshee-vocals are pretty scarce and non-intrusive and the drumming chooses to be a shadow lurking in the back of the mix, which is a bit of a pity since those actually sound the best. The synths are very trebley, almost piercing inside my headphones, which also hurts the listening comfort throughout the session.
And still – while all these ingredients sound very much like that kind of combination destined to fall deep into the 2000s-bedroom-uprising trash bin, this one is not shit. The guitar parts are repetitive as hell, channeling Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Det Som Engang Var more than anything else, but the riffs are actually strong enough to withstand a fair amount of repetition. There’s even some ambient elements here, hailing from the lands of dungeon synth to close the circle of the obvious, yet even those have been curated well enough to earn their place on the album (24 minutes running time is already enough for a full-length nowadays, huh? I don’t mind, though). Alright, so this is basically built from the same bedroom-black metal template we have heard so many times throughout the years that one simply cannot win major prizes with such efforts anymore, but Draugaskógur at least make it feel like an honest, passionate creation, made apparent through the high-quality guitar riffs on display.
Don’t expect any surprises here. Do not seek for innovation or even a sprout of originality, but if you are (still) a fan of the most copied motifs this subgenre has birthed in the 1990s, you’ll probably find some enjoyment in this Fullmoon Hypnotic Ritual. It really – genuinely – does not suck.
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