Review: Hulder “Godslastering Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry” [Iron Bonehead]

Antwerp/Portland’s black metal multi-instrumentalist returns with her first full-length album since starting out with 2018’s promising EP Ascending the Raven Stone.

In true black metal fashion, earthy growls, colourful drumming, and scratching riffs are overlaid on to carefully penned and fierce orchestrated melodies. The strikingly inhuman vocals do well to impose themselves amongst the sharp-elbowed guitars, which do an effortless job of moving between nimble barks, meditative arpeggios, and commanding grooves that dictate the album’s darker tempos.

Godslastering delivers as you’d expect from the promise of her first release, but one can’t help but wonder how much better it would sound with fuller production and either no organ or more meaningful organ pieces, as the limited playing often sounds a little tacky (at first listen, I thought I was missing an intro track, as the organ announces itself with a solitary G# chord playing… for all of 1.29 seconds) and detracts from the power and hard work of the other elements.

Despite being black metal, there is plenty of variety on the album: we are treated to the menacingly tranquil De Dijle, an intro akin to House of the Rising Sun on Purgations of Bodily Corruptions, and the beautifully crafted, and oft-played on Bandcamp Radio, A Forlorn Peasant’s Hymn, which showcases Marz “The Inquisitor” Riesterer’s magnificent vocal range. If you prefer your black metal with more variety and wish to be impressed by a one-(wo)man act, then look no further.

Release date: January 22, 2021

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