Stargazer Scholar
Let us play a little game, shall we? I’m going to name a subgenre of Metal and you will quickly come up with three associations it evokes. Ready? Just promise not to overthink it, OK? Great, I knew I could count on you!
And our genre is… ‘Black Metal!’
Please feel free to use our comment section for your responses. Naturally, I have no way of guessing the answers beforehand, but something tells me that very few people would immediately think of fun. What’s more, upon seeing the grim cover art of Svarttjern‘s sixth opus Draw Blood you may be excused for coming up with literally anything else. Appearances are deceitful, however. No moonlit castles and ghoulish wails for you today, no hooded silhouettes in the flickering torchlight, no vengeful spirits rattling their chains in forsaken oubliettes – this time around, we are going to rock out. Well, at least we’re going to try to.
Svarttjern may be a Norwegian band, but it seems its main influences lie across the border. The more melodic leanings of Necrophobic are combined with Black/Thrash wickedness of Witchery and the like in an unholy marriage of spite and vigor. Straightforward and relentless, the album snarls and rips its way through its prudently chosen runtime of 39 minutes. Svarttjern successfully throws in some diversity, as melodic riffs morph into sparsely used blast-beats, and Speed Metal earworms alternate with mid-paced vicious stomp. The record’s gnarly charm proves sufficient to keep up the energy for a few spins, but don’t expect higher replay value from Draw Blood. Its riffs and melodies are firmly rooted within the Meloblack tropes, and there is hardly anything about the music to elevate it above the ‘quality stuff’ level, however tastefully done.
Ah, taste! Here’s a word to plunge us into the waters of controversy. Allow me to address the subject of the lyrics. To put it plainly, they are quite silly. Deliberately so or not is a matter of some speculation. The occasionally over-the-top delivery and silly cheers and profane exclamations that accompany almost every song (I’m NOT quoting them here, just look at the song titles) make it seem that Svarttjern‘s approach is genuinely tongue-in-cheek. It appears that by gradually moving away from the misanthropic and satanic imagery of their early years they decided to become the Steel Panther of Black Metal, which, if you ask me, is a very questionable ambition to have. Awkward BDSM references (not to be confused with DSBM – Shining fans, you’ve been warned!) abound alongside derogatory remarks that sound downright misogynistic or make light of grave topics… It may be a joke, but it’s not always funny.
As ending a review on a sour note isn’t my style, let me tell you about the biggest success of this enterprise, which comes in the shape of an unlikely but awesome cover of The Rolling Stones classic ‘Under My Thumb’. The way Svarttjern transformed the song and made it their own is phenomenal, and the bouncy, reckless rendition of the main riff has become a regular unbidden guest in my head.
So here we are with a belligerent, rowdy record that makes good use of its effective but limited arsenal. The package includes a killer opener, a wonderful cover, and some inoffensive tunes with offensive lyrics and can serve as a pleasant soundtrack to a few blackened workouts. I’m deducing half a point for the ungodly atrocious verbal abominations contained herein, but let us not be too hard on Svarttjern. After all, it’s only rock and roll, and we like it. Somewhat.
Label: Soulseller Records
Release date: 06 December 2024
Website: https://www.facebook.com/svarttjern
Country: Norway
Score: 2.666/5.0 (Black Metal got its Steel Panther, so the score should also be funny)
Metal Eclipse Reviews 