Album review: Dødheimsgard – Black Medium Current

Black metal just isn’t big enough for some of its best bands. The notorious subgenre’s cold-blooded anarchy and frosty rejection of compromise has a way of attracting genius creatives but, from Ulver to Enslaved to Sigh, its corpse-paint palette simply isn’t broad enough to serve their expanding artistic needs. Although still a defiantly underground concern, at this point it’s safe to add Dødheimsgard to the list. The Oslo collective have now become a sort of harsh prog-rock outfit, fixated on the starry frontiers of space as much as the fiery circles of Hell. Seventh album Black Medium Current is the fascinating latest stop on their epic voyage.

Formed in the ashes of Norwegian BM’s chaotic early ’90s and boasting a name (often shortened to DHG) that translates roughly as ‘Realm Of Death’, their journey could’ve been predictable – and short. Instead, 1999’s seminal 666 International added bold strokes of industrial and avant-garde that they’ve built on with long-gestated pieces (2007’s Sepervillain Outcast, 2015’s A Umbra Omega) across the quarter-century since. From the moment mountainous opener Et Smelter erupts through a funky outro and avalanches into Tankenspinnerens Smerte here, it’s clear they’re still throttling into the unhinged unknown.

Attempting to surmise Black Medium Current’s massive nine-track, 70-minute sprawl would be, frankly, reductive. Safe to say, though, that both the stacked individual moments of chaotic colour and the mind-bending bigger picture are worth the time: Interstellar Nexus’ hypnotic wail; the haunting, baroque tinkle of fleeting interlude Voyager; Halow’s high-drama combination of scourging emotion and proggy audacity; the stately sci-fi soundtrack-ready sprawl of Abyss Perihelion Transit. By the time minimalist closer Requiem Aeternum breathes its last, listeners will be exhausted, but still begging to see where Dødheimsgard are headed next.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Sigh, Enslaved, Akercocke

Black Medium Current is out now via Peaceville