Strandhogg

Strandhogg are a black metal band hailing from Poznan, Poland, formed in 2002. Contrary to somewhat over-excited description in the archives, Strandhogg's debut full-length album presents no less than solid black metal, reminiscent of Setherial in its core, but refined with subtle keyboards and complex songwriting. Being far from what we would expect from a "brutal" black metal band, Strandhogg offers in return dozens of riffs and interesting passages, which is rarity in the genre.

It seems, then, that these few years since the first demo release have made the band quite an extraordinary example of modern Polish black metal.

The key aspect of the album is, however, its ambiance. Despite heavy, almost death metal-like mounting, "Ritualistic Plague" manages to keep the mood of classic black metal masterpieces. Whether it is "Grim, hypnotic, cavernous and extremely violent in execution" remains a matter of imagination, but the atmosphere is no worse than what we could ever expect.

While awful sound quality is a usual flaw of most black metal releases, Strandhogg does not neglect the production side of music, being able to combine both the "black" and the "metal". All of this makes it almost a perfect proof that it is possible to stay loyal to the genre, at the same time breaking the schemes once laid down by artists, who would not fit the reality of today. So does Strandhogg and hopefully it will be noticed widely.