CoC : Ulfsdalir - Grimnir : Review

Ulfsdalir - _Grimnir_
(Christhunt Productions, 2003)
by: Matthias Noll (8 out of 10)

With Ulfsdalir another German one-man black metal project rears its misanthropic head. Featuring four tracks and an intro, _Grimnir_ could be considered an EP if it wasn't for its length of about 33 minutes. My overall rating, while being good, still is a bit misleading, because half of the material on Grimnir is excellent and easily among the very best black metal I've heard this year, while the other half is decent but fails to impress me as much. The two tracks which fall into the latter category are mainly characterized by a very straightforward, monotonous and only slightly melodic approach which is convincingly grim and aggressive but fails to reach the same level of excellence as the even better material on _Grimnir_. The two remaining long tracks, "Grimnir" and "Inwaldis Soehne", feature more breaks and tempo changes and serve to summon a hair-raising, dirge-like atmosphere of sadness and bitterness which roughly makes a band like Clandestine Blaze minus the Darkthrone influence or the rather epic _Black Katharsis_ EP by Satanic Warmaster come to mind. Excellent melodies, riffs and -- unsurprisingly -- a very raw production which balances grimness and power quite nicely makes this record one of the biggest and most positive underground black metal surprises in 2003 so far. Limited to 666 copies, so you better act quick!

Contact: http://www.christhuntproductions.de

(article published 10/8/2003)

ALBUMS
31/12/2004	M Noll	4	Ulfsdalir - Christenhass