After reading the press release that accompanied this disc, I wasn't expecting much. "Oh, great! Another black-metal mess to wade through!", I thought. Seeing the photo of this band further reinforced my fears. Four dudes in the woods dressed up like a cross between "Night of the Living Dead" zombies and the Borg from "Star Trek"? Houston, we have a problem...

I was actually pleasantly surprised by these guys. The vocals on here are straight out of the cookie monster/screamin' and hollerin' school. Definitely not my thing, but I must take time to thank vocalist Gard for singing in his native Norwegian. Too often, bands try to sing in English, thinking it will broaden their fan base, and their stilted accents and lost-in-translation phrasing usually destroys any chance of their music being taken seriously. The musicianship on "Krek" is very competent, and at times, quite tasteful. "Blod Og Blek" maintains a solid, strong groove. Some well placed blast beats on "Byrde" really bring that track alive. The swing rhythm on "Midvinterblot" is a welcome addition. It's easy for bands of this type to go the drum-machine/mechanical route, but all the music here sounds like it was performed by living, breathing humans! Glad to hear that these guys haven't been fully assimilated yet! With only ten tracks that range from 2-4 minutes, the disc doesn't have time to bore the listener. Another plus, in my book.

You can probably guess that this disc won't get a whole lotta play at the Broadbent home. Still, in terms of this genre, you could do a hell of a lot worse than these guys. Khold aren't bhad!

- Broadbent

OFFICIAL SITE: www.khold.com

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