GRAFVITNIR
Death's Wings Widespread (picture)

Black Vinyl, gatefold

By now, GRAFVITNIR require no introduction. Since their fiery birth in 2007 and successive NâHásh debut album in 2009, this still-mysterious Swedish formation have dependably - and provocatively - stoked the fires of ancient black metal, becoming veritable royalty by the end of the decade. From that fiery beginning, GRAFVITNIR's aesthetic has been firm and unyielding: exquisitely and restlessly melodic, its sulfurous fire paradoxically as cryogenic as it comes, medieval in atmosphere and literally bewitching in feel and fury. To suggest that the band harken back to a time when Dissection sired countless clones - but, crucially, each one of them as satisfying and significant as the next - is to underline the gravitas of GRAFVITNIR's particular vision of black metal: a steadfast and enduring classicism that's timeless then, now, and forever into the future.

And so it goes with GRAFVITNIR's ninth album, Into the Outer Wilderness. No compromise, no quarter: this is GRAFVITNIR further distilled into 43 minutes of menace and majesty. But the title Into the Outer Wilderness is telling, as the duo here evoke that sensation of plunging into a clandestine world of witchcraft and sacred rites, spun into a delirium through somehow shimmering and even sparkling melodicism. And yet, for however organic their productions have always sounded - rough and raw, sure, but most importantly, human - there's conspicuously more grit here on Into the Outer Wilderness as well as clarity, making for a unique entry into GRAFVITNIR's nigh-untouchable catalog. Elsewhere, it's righteously ripping songwriting as only these Swedes can deliver, entrancing and enervating as ever; there is only one GRAFVITNIR then, now, and especially forever. Venture forth Into the Outer Wilderness!