Blodskam – Ave Eva
Release Date: 23rd September 2022
Label: Suicide Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal
FFO: Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest, I am the Night, Abhoria, Funeral Mist.
Review By: Rick Farley
Authentically filthy and trve sounding old school Swedish black metal that’s hooky and doesn’t sound overly thin. Yes please! Blodskam was originally formed in 1998 by brothers Aghora and Dödfödd, but laid dormant for several years, only to resurrect themselves in 2014. The duo partnered with Suicide Records in 2019 for the release of their debut album Là-Bas which gained a devoted underground following and were even praised on national television in their native Sweden. Now the brothers return in 2022, with a high gain twisted piece of black metal in Ave Eva, their second full length ready to hurl you through a whirling chasm of fierce and foul tenebrosity.
Ave Eva is an impressive mixture of refined and melodious yet hostile black metal. Dark, grimy, punky, and borderline catchy with some added seething black and roll vibes. An extremely cold bleakness throughout the album, interplays with, dare I say, an upbeat exuberance, giving the record a unique and very memorable approach that’s missing from a lot of extreme metal these days. In short, this is a complete blast to listen to, while still sounding wrathful, malevolent, and fiendish. But don’t get me wrong, Ave Eva sounds gloomy and grim like any good black metal album should, there’s just an undeniable grooviness that’s hard not to notice. Blodskam are teetering on the limits of pure black metal and pushing boundaries to the edge while maintaining the authentic old school sounds. Icy tremolo picking, sinister trebly layered guitars, thudding drum blasting while tortured higher pitch growls and screams still sound murderous and cold. The band contrasts the raw blackness with spirited melodies, sneering grooves, and moving bass lines, all providing great moments of enthralling uniqueness to the genre. The brothers are very much playing old school black metal, just presented from a fresher perspective. A timeless sound with a different shade of corpse paint popping with small hints of colour.
Lyrically, Ave Eva touches on and reinterprets the biblical and destructive force of Eve. Retelling the story of her bloody mission to destroy Earth, slaughter its creatures and undo God’s creation to restore infinite chaos. A dark concept album that fits the epic, swirling blackened swagger of a band ticking all the right boxes and blurs the lines between accessible and vile.
The production is murky and raw, but with an in-motion airiness about it. The record sounds flat in the way most black metal sounds, meaning the instruments are evenly distributed across the spectrum, but still comes across vibrant and full of life. It’s without a doubt, a modern sounding rawness that’s far from lo-fi but definitely not polished either. Recorded by Johan Hjelm and mixed and mastered by Magnus “Devo” Andersson at Endarker Studio. For this type of album, the production is outstanding and adds character to the already grandiose music.
Overall, this is a triumph of aggressive, evil atmospheric black metal. The swathes of guitars cut deep like shards of glass; chromatic tremolo leads switch to sinister riff laden hookiness. The guitars melodies breathe in an open airiness between violent bursts of a fast and relentless. Punk vibe, low end power chords ring out with frosty atmospheric clarity only to be followed by ravenous straight forward black metal riffs. Aghora executed the guitars and bass perfectly, showing tremendous variance between the two, often treating the basslines as more than just matching the guitars. Slinky lines keep the low end interesting and constantly moving. Dödfödd provides the strained hellish vocals, his range is mostly mid to slightly high and sounds extremely agonized. Like a demon with a menacing taunt to it. The drums which were recorded by Kim Flippu are a juggernaut of blasting, double bass, and insane fills. There’s a lot to love about this record, and Blodskam should definitely be on your radar. 
(4 / 5)
