This band doesn’t need an introduction of their origins as they clearly originate within the all enveloping void. Guðveiki takes concepts of Anti-Cosmic Satanism and combine it with the all too familiar sounds of blackened death metal featuring. Hellish guitars, ghastly vocals and an oppressive atmosphere it’d be a miracle to walk away mentally unscathed from this controlled cacophony of auditory chaos.
There’s a lot going on within this album. From the dizzying guitar riffs to the blindingly fast drumming, there’s little room to stop and take it all in. The band describes the album as ‘tightly controlled chaos’ and I couldn’t agree more with that statement. At first listen, you can easily miss the little intricate symbiotic moments between the instruments that are present through out the six tracks. The drums in particular are what stand out the most to me personally for this release. They have so much power and force driving everything it has behind the music and not letting up what so ever, while still keeping it diverse and unique enough to not get captured in the same tired old blast beats. There’s also a psychedelic aspect of this album. From everything all happening at once, with this added echo-like effect over all the instruments, you really get the nightmarish sense of a celestial being laying down the vocals, one that the mortal mind cannot fully comprehend in a way that is outside of this controlled auditory chaos.
The incredibly heavy esoteric themes through out the album also help build this unique atmosphere that is pervasive throughout the album. Especially when reading into the lyrics. Thanks to rough online translations, the original Icelandic lyrics touch upon twisted esoteric stories carrying with it intense symbols related to Anti-Cosmic Satanism as well as achieving a type of gnosis through death, and my favorite, depicting the end of all creation brought upon by wigned figures wielding swords of black flame, a very common image among Anti-Cosmic Satanists. While this is somewhat of a common trope with black metal bands using such imagery, there’s something a bit more authentic with the approach of this album, as if the members do hope that this end is brought upon us one day, and these are their hymns.
All that aside though, what we have is a very solid blackened death metal album that stands up alongside others of the Mystískaos group. If you’re somewhat familiar with that line up, then you might be familiar with the approach of this album, and will be happily content with it. But as for others, this is a must listen in my opinion, really striking that perfect balance of black and death metal in one occult package.