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HYPERBOREAN
Mythos Of The Great Pestilence

Self-released (2014)
Rating: 8/10

When I was first introduced to this Swedish extreme metal band via their 2011 debut The Spirit Of Warfare, I had a feeling of trepidation. The reason for this was because I was concerned that I’d be discarding this opus as just another Swedish death metal album featuring the generic traits that for some reason have become popular several decades after Entombed, Dismember, et al invented such a buzz.

However, pleasantly surprised was I by the scathing sound of this lethal combo, who for the most part combines an abrasive style of deathly black metal with thrash hints.

Mythos Of The Great Pestilence is the second full-length release by the band which includes vocalist Magnus Persson, who has a venomous strain to his rasping vocals. Indeed, such a volatile sneer has more in common with black metal than anything remotely death metal, but there are times when that tone is lowered into a deathlier bellow.

Musically, the band delivers a catchy, melodic brand of black metal which has sprigs of traditional metal thrown in for good measure. Instead of being battered by the usual self-indulgent dissonance one might associate with the black metal hordes, this eight track opus comes across with a dab of polish, and just exists as a well-thought out exercise in strong, flexible metal.

There are no gimmicks thrown out there by the band. Instead, it’s a heads down, tight and above all accessible record. It varies in tempo, offering a leather-clad medium between faster, spikier waves and then slower, brooding motions, none more evident than on the track ‘The Great Pestilence’ which is hazardous with its initial bursts of rapid-fire drums, vicious vocals and speedy riffs, but soon changes patterns to become a more infectious tirade.

The vocals slip between nasty spits and then gruffer snarls, but there’s a feeling through the tracks as they come thick and fast that this has all been meticulously crafted. Hyperborean are a progressive black metal band to an extent, yet much more than that; they carve out complex passages of wondrously catchy hooks. For example, the opening trudge of ‘The New Paradigms Outcasts’ has more in common with traditional metal as it rolls with a doomy edge until the cascade of snarling vocals, but all the while the music remains clean and concise in its barrage.

When the band chooses to hit the listener with a blackened wave of razor-sharp guitars and punchy percussion, there’s never a hint of the usual, generic ashen boredom which often plagues black metal releases. Unusual subtle passages are introduced amidst the pitch textures and in spite of this being labelled as melodic black metal, there’s not really a trace of the usual satanic arrogance or murky lo-fi misanthropy one may come to expect.

In fact, so professional is this platter that at times it transcends the genre it is confined to simply because of its unwillingness to conform to the archetype. As tracks such as ‘The New Paradigm Outcasts’ proves, black metal has so much still to offer as a genre. Opener ‘Hail Dystopia’ is as rampant as Hyperborean gets, as Persson snarls of “Mindless hordes, cogs in the wheel, Break their swords, weaken their steel!” over a tirade of rattling drums and devilish guitar hooks, yet with the likes of ‘The Slaves Of This World’ and ‘Bring Forth The Dead Man’ there is proof that this is black metal from a band thinking outside of the box.

While never jarring to the point of inaccessible, Hyperborean’s sophomore outing is one that is refreshing in its outlook. While completely bereft of gothic symphonies, evil cheese or occult grimaces, it gets its message across by just flowing as a natural amalgamation of hard rhythms, interesting lyrics, and musical intelligence.

Neil Arnold

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