TSJUDER "Helvegr"
By Dr. Abner Mality
The smoke from a hundred burning churches fills the air when you listen to "Helvegr". This is Norwegian black metal that goes for the throat like a rabid dog. I compare TSJUDER to the thrash band ENFORCED in that they offer a pure undistilled essence of a particular musical style. In ENFORCED's case, that would be American thrash metal. For TSJUDER, it is Norse black metal.
By trimming the fat and focusing on the ferocious aspects of second wave black metal, TSJUDER have come up with a better album than the majority of their contemporaries. "Iron Beast" establishes the paradigm with an absolute bloodthirsty blast of freezing black metal...no intro, no spoken words, no tension filled build-up....just the blizzard howling in from the North.
Much of the album has this force and fire, but there's also definite structure and interesting riffs in tunes like "Chaos Fiend" and "Gods Of Black Blood". This is what makes "Helvegr" a superior example of the style. And yes, there are some points where they ease up on the fury. The title track is slow and ominous, full of cold dread but a different side to the band. And there is an instrumental outro "Hvit Dod" that can be described as restrained. How much that adds to the album is debatable, but most of the focus is on rippers like "Gamle-Erik" and "Prestehammeren", whee Nag's vocals are as dire as anybody in black metal.
By sticking to the basics, TSJUDER have come up with a strong album here.