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URFEIND "Dauþalaikaz"
URFEIND "Dauþalaikaz"
By Dr. Abner Mality
Here's a nice blackened surprise coming in at the tail end of 2024. URFEIND seems to be just one guy, Skadwaz, hailing from Germany. Another one man black metal band featuring a guy wearing an all black mask doesn't exactly scream "innovation" yet Herr Skadwaz has come up with something kind of refreshing here.
"Dauþalaikaz" shows that you can do black metal that stays true to the genre's characteristics yet still sound unique. This is a full-blooded, robust album that has a thick and heavy vibe but has atmosphere to spare. At times this reaches a kind of hypnotic genius, best found on the magnificently doomy "Weaving the Abyss", the second half of "Hymn of Corruption" and the album's standout track, "Nine To Zero". Skadwaz uses a bull-like roar...neither traditional black metal or death metal in style...to intone lyrics like an incantation. If I had to use comparisons to describe URFEIND's style, I'd call it a mix of classic IMMORTAL with the smothering force of HATE FOREST or WINDSWEPT. Yet there is always a distinct URFEIND flavor to it all.
There are some pretty fast and intense tracks like "Thrones of Madness" and "Serpent's Flight" that combine the wintry tremolo sounds of black metal with something heavier and more substantial. There are times when what sounds like a cello or even a sax show up to wail mournfully over the main riffs. Of all the tracks here, only "Void", the shortest on offer, struck me as average...not bad, but not up to the rest of the album.
"Dauþalaikaz" has some hidden delights which will reveal themselves with careful listening, but this is never less than impressive...never less than pure black metal.
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