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DØDHEIMSGARD ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM

‘BLACK MEDIUM CURRENT’

OUT NOW

 

The sixth studio album of bleak, dark and dissonant sounds from Norway’s Dødheimsgard is out now via Peaceville Records

‘Black Medium Current’ set for release on April 14 via Peaceville Records, is the sixth studio album by longstanding Norwegian avant-garde pioneers Dødheimsgard. From their influential and successful beginnings as a raw and grim black metal outfit established during the ongoing swelling of the “second wave” in the early-mid 90s, Dødheimsgard has subsequently evolved into a truly eclectic behemoth with each landmark release; a band now undoubtedly adorned with the mastery of mood and texture through intricate, dark metallic wonderment and unnerving eloquence.

 

‘Black Medium Current’ continues on the path set by 2015’s monumental and universally lauded ‘A Umbra Omega’ album; itself a deeply poignant and potent release of vast maturity and insight.

 

Steeped in atmosphere ‘Et Smelter’ opens the gaping maw of the abyss swallowing the listener whole, digesting them via a multitude of influences. The trademark solemn vocals recall ancient qualities of Black Metal yet viewed through a modernist lens as we move through the forlorn ‘It Does Not Follow’ before plummeting into ‘Det Tomme Kalde Morke’.

 

Thematically the album deals with the idea of authenticity, the battle of free will versus determinism and what this implies for our moral responsibilities. In ‘Black Medium Current’ Dødheimsgard also aim to question the notion of ‘responsibility’ as a concept.

 

DHG – Small Mock

‘Black Medium Current’ track listing:

01 – Et Smelter [10:19]

02 – Tankespinnerens Smerte

03 – Interstellar Nexus [08:01]

04 – It Does Not Follow [08:24]

05 – Voyager [01:46]

06 – Halow [09:37]

07 – Det Tomme Kalde Morke [07:35]

08 – Abyss Perihelion Transit [10:59]

09 – Requiem Aeternum [05:13]

Recorded during the end of 2021 and beginnings of 2022, with production duties being handled by Vicotnik. Engineered and mixed by Matias Aaveren at Top-Room Studios. Mastering by Charis at Feedback Studios with additional help by Pavlos.

 

Outside of traditional bass guitar duties Lars Emil Måløy lends his talents on piano, cella and theremind on ‘Requiem Aeturnum’ as well as flute by STTNG on ‘Et Smelter’

 

Adorned by the work of graphic designer Łukasz Jaszak, having previously worked on Dold Vorde Ens Navn album, there was a symbiotic understanding when it came to artwork. Much like the album’s use of space musically, this is mirrored in the cover.

Vicotnik continues:

“To dream (abstract reality) is Purpose, matter (physical reality) is the fabric in which to research and fulfil the purpose.”

“The front cover shows empty space and the building blocks of reality in the sense of what is and the potential of what can be. It is easy to view this cover through the lenses of philosophical realism, and it has contingency towards that indeed. But the cover itself, just by existing, also conveys an abstraction towards something that came into existence from an idea. Is an idea contingent on the physical realm to be expressed? Or is the physical realm itself an idea from self-servitude? Brought forth from a mind in order to study itself, interact and further the understanding of its existence. A sort of Platonic universalis through an artistic lens. Idea, not as mental but as abstract, existing independently of both the mental activity itself and sensible particulars.”

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As is the questioning nature of Dødheimsgard, the band explore ideas in which trying to free oneself from a state of existential despair and confusion we in turn relinquish our own freedom. Suggesting that confusion and despiair, however hard they may be to endure, are in a philosophical sense necessary told to question one’s own intellectual honesty.

 

An idea that is perhaps mirrored in both the tightrope walking of the simultaneously minimalist yet maximalist vocabulary of ‘Black Medium Current’.

 

Vicotnik elaborates futher:

“There is a certain amount of facticity to moods, in turn moods are conditions of thinking and ultimately solicit a variety of responses. The contradictory notions of angst and if angst is tied to free will or rather solely a deterministic human feature. If an agent is invested in being a particular thing and when the state of being is compromised, one would normally find oneself in a state of existentialist despair and confusion. Are we in perpetual despair because our identity depends on qualifiers that can crumble at any moment?  Yet trying to solely avoid these states of confusion and discomfort through structuring all notions of an all-encompassing rationality in order to interact with the objective world, is perhaps in part to relinquish personal freedom and the potential of growth? With this album I am trying to create moods in which this angst and confusion is prevalent, and through my experiential notions pose questions, (primarily to myself), that perhaps extends to facilitating the development of inner resources, overcoming self-deception and promoting freedom through art and creative exercise.”

DHG – Mock Horizontal

Black Medium Current is out now on Digipak, Gatefold LP and digitally and is available to order here (https://dodheimsgard.lnk.to/BMC)

LATEST RELEASES

Click and drag or swipe to explore the latest Dødheimsgard releases below

THE NORWEGIAN EXPERIMENTAL BLACK METAL PURVEYORS 2015 ALBUM “A UMBRA OMEGA” – A 68 MINUTE DARK MASTERPIECE OF CHALLENGING & UNNERVING INTROSPECTION.

 

Norway’s Dødheimsgard was formed in 1994 by Vicotnik & Aldrahn. The early incarnation was that of a raw and melodic black metal band, with their debut album also featuring Fenriz of Darkthrone on bass, before the poisons of a more avantgarde & schizophrenic concoction started to take hold.

One of the top bands and boundary-pushing visionaries of the mid-90’s Norwegian Black Metal evolution, having released 4 full-length albums since their inception, DHG are widely hailed as masters of dark & psychotic psychedelia-tinged extremity.

The first fruits of DHG’s re-animated labour was manifested in the shape of, ‘A Umbra Omega’, with original co-founding member Aldrahn (Thorns/The Deathtrip) making a return to the asylum on vocal duties alongside Vicotnik’s exquisite & unconventional compositions & structures.

‘A Umbra Omega’ was DHG’s first album since 2007’s ‘Supervillain Outcast’ opus, and undoubtedly marked the band’s most challenging work at that time; twisted, technical, sprawling epics & an inverted outlook on existence from the depths of band mastermind/writer/producer Vicotnik, with similarities drawn to previous classic DHG works such as ‘666 International’ and ‘Satanic Art’ whilst being taken to a whole new level.

A raw and organic production permeates the album courtesy of Vicotnik himself, with the album mastered at Strype Audio in Oslo by Tom Kvålsvoll.

‘A Umbra Omega’ was released on Peaceville Records on a double gatefold LP, CD & Digitally

Dødheimsgard – A Umbra Omega – Artwork

A Umbra Omega track listing:

1 The Love Divine [01:37]

2 Aphelion Void [15:12]

3 God Protocol Axiom [13:11]

4 The Unlocking [11:23]

5 Architect Of Darkness [12:04]

6 Blue Moon Duel [14:22]

DØDHEIMSGARD BIOGRAPHY

Dødheimsgard (also known as DHG) is a Norwegian metal band formed in 1994 by Vicotnik and Aldrahn. Dødheimsgard was originally a more pure black metal band, but 1999’s ‘666 International’ saw them evolve into an experimental and avant-garde band with a wide array of musical influences. In 2000, they shortened their name to DHG.

“Dødheimsgard” is a contraction of three words: Død which means ‘death’, heim which means ‘home’ and gard which means (at least in this context) ‘realm’. A natural translation into English would be “Realm of Death”.

In 2006, they completed the new album ‘Supervillain Outcast’ with new vocalist Kvohst (ex-Code) which was released in April 2007 by Moonfog Productions and The End Records.

Several years past before the new masterwork was completed. Titled ‘A Umbra Omega’ and featuring the return of Aldrahn (Thorns/The Deathtrip) on vocals, the band’s first album for new label Peaceville Records heralds a new era at the DHG asylum.