After a grueling end to the college semester, coming back to Metal Reviews is a more than welcomed feeling for me. And what better way than to start with a quick burst of solid black metal from the band Ormgard. The demo Ormblot was originally released in 2011 and was reissued this year through Forever Plagued Records as a limited digipack. This roughly 27 minute re-release is a twisted and dark black metal album that has been said to “resemble the premature days of Emperor.”

Older this album does sound, paying homage to the early black metal from the early 90s, and is definitely a breath of fresh air for the genre amidst these days of well-produced black metal bands. The album begins with venture into a darkened ambience with shadowy elements. The opening instrumental track Ormblot begins with a thundering sound and quickly is overcast by a ghostly choir and phantom like keyboards.

It doesn’t take long for ferocious blast beating and quick black metal riffing with the first true track entitled Hugssad. The layers of the guitars and the use of the keyboard to coat the song with a darkened symphonic feel make for a raw and ambitious sound. It seems Sweden has a way of crafting some dark black metal, and Ormgard show they can achieve a fantastic and “evil” sound.

The darkened and sinister atmosphere continues right along with Ohelgat Blot. Less blast beating is found here (yet emerges throughout the track at times) and aims to bring forth a sadistic and wicked concoction of black metal. With all this ferocious and great raw sounding black metal, instrumental and ambient tracks make up at least half of this album interestingly enough. For some, this may sound unsettling, but the tracks are vastly rich and clouded in a murky demonic essence. Dödskröning is a great example that not only can this band emit a vicious older sounding black metal, but to reach farther into the deepest and darkest pits with their ambient sections of the album

Ormgard is an evil force of black metal, and after listening to this great demo, I am more than willing to check out their first full length album that was released in 2012. No doubt alongside Norway, Sweden has been known to produce some evil sounding black metal, and Ormgard is a more than worthy a band of this distinction.