### Svartsyn: ...His majesty

#### 27/09/07 || theProphet

Svartsyn is fucking great name for a black metal band, just to get it out of the way. Actually, let’s elaborate on that statement. The reason I even bothered to check Svartsyn out was because of the amazing name. However, I discovered that they played “underground black metal” (from their MySpace) and this should be enough to riase a few warning flags. But this was all a couple of years ago, while I was attempting to become trve and kvlt and that shit. Yeah, I remember, nothing used to be as fun as discovering a band none of my friends had ever heard of (ok, so it’s still pretty fun, whatever…). ONWARDS!

Musicwise Svartsyn is a very competent band, apparently the drummer used to be in Dark Funeral, and the band even did some tour back in the days with Behemoth (not sure if it’s THE Behemoth, but I think it is…). The band also obviously knows how to come up with some good tunes, not just writing three riffs per song and then repeating them ad absurdum. Instead, they write dynamic songs and while they’re not the fastest guys around, the tunes still come out pretty fucking brutal.

The production on “...His Majesty” is also good, or bad, probably most accurately a little of both. The guitars are fantastic, they sound like distorted chainsaws on drugs. Very nice. The drums have a nice organic sound to them, although they are waaaaaay too high in the mix. Not surprisingly, you have to struggle hard to hear the bass, but this is so common in black metal that I really can’t do a great deal of complaining about it. Okay, so that came out much more negative than I intended to, but really, it’s all about that guitar sound… me likes very much.

A quick mentioning of them vocals too… These are certainly not the greatest black metal vocals I’ve heard, but I think they fit the package pretty well. Still, there’s room for some improvement here.

To sum it up, Svartsyn gives me the impression that it’s a band that, like so many others, wished they were around during the mid-eighties. It’s obvious though, that Svartsyn, is one of the better of these nostalgic black metal bands. This shows on “...His Majesty”, but also on their later releases, so it’s not just some one time fluke. I sincerely suggest you give these guys a try. And while I’m at it, I suggest you give midget porn a chance too.

Oh, and finally… this is probably the best album cover ever made, honestly. When I record an album, I will use this. And the coolest part is that nobody will fucking notice (seriously you hadn’t seen it before, be honest…)!

7 ho-hum black metal bands being wiped off Svartsyn’s broadswords out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2000
- Label: Sound Riot Records
- Website: Svartsyn MySpace
- Band
- Ornias: vocals, guitars
- Kolgrim: bass
- Draugen: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Apocalyptic Prophecy
- 02. Dungeons
- 03. Tunnels of His Majesty
- 04. It Breathes
- 05. Necromantic Flesh
- 06. I’m Cleopatre’s Killer