(written by Islander)

The Swedish band Hersir wear the trappings of ancient hellish menace and vicious savagery. They seem to have named themselves for Viking raiders. They titled their debut album Hateful Draugar From the Underground (in Norse mythology the draugar were reanimated corpses or the restless dead). And the album includes songs called “Holocaust Winter“, “Purification by Fire“, and “Valgaldr” (an Old Norse word for spells that raise the dead).

And have no doubt, there is indeed much about their formulations of black metal that are hellish and vicious, but their thematic inspirations from ancient Nordic spirituality and folklore also give their music an unearthly and epic aura, both frightening and wondrous. Perhaps most unexpected from the outward trappings mentioned above, this is a refined beast, a wicked creature in which a certain kind of dangerous elegance lurks beneath the black cloaks, the decayed skin, and the ravenous and hateful hungers.

So if you might be expecting “bestial black metal,” perish the thought. It thus makes sense that their label Darkness Shall Rise (which will release the album on March 28th) invokes the influence of classic Darkthrone, Enslaved, Emperor, or Isengard. And you’ll understand all of this better when you hear the song we’re premiering today — “Purification of Fire.” Continue reading »