Jan 232018
 

Oslo 05072017. Photo: Marius Viken

 

I guess it’s not a bad time to take stock of where we are in the rollout of this 2017 edition of our Most Infectious Song list, since this is the 10th Part. With the three songs I’m adding today, we’re up to a total of 32 tracks. I had planned to finish the list by the end of this month, so we can finally close the book on last year (or mostly close it) and focus our time more exclusively on the flood of new metal that’s been coming our way in 2018. If I follow through on that plan, it really just means I’ll be calling an arbitrary halt… because I’m still just figuring this out as I go along.

I suppose if I really feel that calling a dead halt on January 31 would leave too many gems behind, I might edge into February, but on the other hand, that could become a very slippery slope. I do have 8 days left in the month, and if I knock out an average of three tracks per day, I can make it to 56 songs… which would be about 20 fewer than usual for this series. We’ll see.

 

 

SATYRICON

Satyricon are on my mind since I saw the news announced yesterday that they will be touring the U.S. for the last time this spring (accompanied by Inquisition). This song, “To Your Brethren in the Dark“, has been on my mind a lot since I first heard it, too.

I have no doubt that some fans of the band’s latest album, Deep Calleth Upon Deep (reviewed by Andy Synn here) may quarrel with the selection, and of course I easily could have picked other tracks. I suppose the choice may depend a bit on which era of Satyricon’s creative output exerts the greatest hold on each listener, since (to paraphrase Andy) the album successfully draws upon ideas and influences from across the breadth of the band’s discography.

But regardless, I find this song to be completely sorcerous, and it succeeds in casting a spell every time I hear it. The lyrics are very cool, too, as is this video:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOLFHEART

I think it’s fair to say that Wolfheart has been a consistent favorite at this site since the project’s inception, and it has been gratifying to see how enthusiastically the band’s music has been embraced since the release of Winterborn in 2013. We certainly greeted the latest record, Tyhjyys, with considerable enthusiasm, as expressed in DGR’s extensive review of the album.

Interestingly, while DGR devoted significant attention in his review to many individual tracks from the album, “World On Fire” wasn’t one of them — even though that song is one that he recommended I include in this list. It wasn’t a hard sell for me to include it either. So much to like about the song — the darting riffs, the sweeping ambient layers, the hooky little keyboard melody that surfaces just before the 2:00 mark, the soaring solo, the surging energy, the way that Tuomas Saukkonen manages to sound like he’s singing even with that monstrous roar that comes from his throat….

And the video for the song is great:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAVUKRUUNU

With their first album, Havulinnaan, Havukruunu proved very quickly that they were something special. Two years later, they produced Kelle surut soi, which was released last April. Anyone who might have worried about a sophomore slump easily perished those thoughts — the band managed to surmount a debut that was itself spectacular.

I briefly reviewed the album for our site and singled out the album’s second song, “Vainovalkeat”, as the one that really reached in and pulled the heart from my chest. Its central melody is so grand and glorious, and so immediately captivating. It feels like you’ve been thrown into a chariot of fire and taken straight into the heavens with Valkyries as your vanguard.

The rampant passion in “Vainovalkeat” surges throughout much of the album, with fire and fury dominant at times, an air of bombastic grandeur at others, and crushing sorrow at still others. But this song is the one I yearn to hear more than any other, and that makes it worthy of this list of mine.

 

  6 Responses to “OUR LIST OF 2017’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 10): SATYRICON, WOLFHEART, HAVUKRUUNU”

  1. I haven’t yet been able to muster the willpower to trek out to Joliet for any tours that book their Chicagoland date there, but for Satyricon’s last tour I might just have to make it happen.

    This may end up on another spot on this list, but that particular Satyricon track also seems to me to be a kindred spirit with the Sun of the Sleepless album, To The Elements, that got released last year (one that I feel got less attention across the metal sphere than it deserved, with almost every track worthy of the seal of infectiousness).

  2. The opening riff of the Havukruunu track and the ensuing mix of melody and abrasiveness encapsulates what makes this band so awesome. Kelle Surut Soi hasn’t grown on me as much as Havulinnaan, but this particular song was an instant favorite. Great choice.

  3. Huvukruunu might just end up on my end of year list…oh wait it already did.
    Offspring of Dissection and Windir. Love it.
    A new getnre is fomed : Majesic black metal
    Antidote to these hateful tines.

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