Khold – ‘Morke Gravers Kammer’ Peaceville Reissue Review

Peaceville have already reissued the first two Khold albums so that a whole new generation of black metal fans can bask in their frozen glory, and now it’s the turn of ‘Morke Gravers Kammer’ (originally released on the Candlelight imprint), the third album, which sees the rougher edges filed away and replaced with a single-mindedness of purpose and a fierce emphasis on groove that makes this an album that is deeply hypnotic and powerful, the weight behind each riff driving the listener ever further into the dark abyss that vocalist Gard stares into day after day. As with the first two albums, ‘Morke gravers Kammer’ features a bonus track (once again drawn from the excellent ‘Demo 2000’) and, this time, it also features an enhanced video for the track ‘Dod’. In truth, however, as gratefully received as these extras are, fans of Khold should need no enticement to buy this brilliant disc as it contains some of Khold’s finest work.

There are no intros, or messing around on ‘Morke…’ a wail of feedback sees the band launch into the vicious grind of ‘Atselgraver’. It’s a tightly wound, mid-paced track which replaces speed with a well-honed air of malevolence and sense of menace. The guitars now punish the listener with droning sludge riffs whilst Gard’s terrifying proclamations (delivered in his native tongue) sound as if they are being beamed out of the black pit itself, the stressed sibilants hissed out in a serpentine fashion as the music piles towards its conclusion. Slightly faster is ‘Dod’ which brings to mind the crushing might of latter day Satyricon (think ‘Age of nero’ and you’re in the right place), the music no longer slashing and burning, but marching relentlessly on – a far more terrifying and methodical approach that leaves the listener drawn by the sheer imposing might of it all. ‘Nilheimr’ is a more traditional black metal attack, the guitars and drums forming a wall of sound that shimmers and rages allowing melody to occasionally coalesce out of the frozen mass, only to disappear as quickly back into the haze. The track draws to a sudden close and then we’re plunged into the hellishly slow ‘Hevnerske’, a track which lurches and grinds awkwardly towards a ferocious denouement that sees the guitars flail and strike with real force.

Despite occasionally striking outside of the mid-paced comfort zone, Khold’s strength is in reigning in their impulse to lash out and instead honing their violence into sustained bouts of terror. This approach leads the tracks to maintain a poise and balance quite beyond the more brutal speed mongers and as a result the album remains a mesmerising trip into the dark underworld of Khold. ‘Med neb bog klor’ is no exception, the music restrained, but always maintaining its propensity to strike out violently at a moment’s notice, whilst Gard’s vocals are the inhuman, acid-seared gargles of the utterly damned. The title track is equally menacing, the band crafting a gloriously oppressive atmosphere, holding the guitars back for the first minute whilst the rhythm section weave a   silken web with which to trap the unwary. It’s a highlight of the album and a true centrepiece to the disc. After so enthralling a track, ‘Opera Seria’ needs to be something truly special, and so it transpires to be – a raging, molten riff set against half time drums that breaks into a juddering assault on the senses without warning from the exceptionally tight musicians. ‘Sjeleskjender’ is, like ‘Niflheimr’, a more traditional foray into black metal territories, and its power lies in the distinction between it and the more mid-tempo material that appears around it, making it sound unhinged and furious, as if a floodgate of emotions have been opened and the band are being allowed to indulge in a shocking display of violence before returning to their normal state of unemotional slaughter on ‘Vardoger’, a slowed-down nightmare that sees the guitars return to their normal grinding state, all droning power chords and pounding bass. Final track ‘Kamp’ cleverly contrasts a deliciously slow and grinding opening with a furious assault that takes flight and cleverly inverts the restraint found elsewhere on the album.

As an added bonus the track ‘untitled’ (from Demo 2000) appears, tacked on to the end of the album. A fiery torrent of noise it stands as a monument to how far Khold developed in four years, but with its clever alternation between the searing main riff and the half-time chorus, it also shows how much Khold had laid out the blueprint for what they were to become even then. A worthy, if somewhat rough and ready, addition to the album then, the only one disappointment of this fine reissue is the absence of liner notes which always make such an endeavour feel more complete.

As stated in the introduction to this piece, ‘Morke Gravers Kammer’ does not need bonus features. If you are a fan of Khold (or worse still if you are a fan of Black metal and have yet to be inducted into the band’s brilliantly dark universe) then you truly need to add this record to your collection. Another gem from Peaceville’s extensively brilliant vaults, this album stands as the high point in Khold’s already exceptional career and is an essential purchase for fans of Satyricon and mid-period Behemoth. Once again Khold demonstrate their immense worth in the realms of black metal.