Weren’t we forgetting something? Ah, yes. The RMR crew navigated a lot in the prog / doom / NWoBHM1 sphere lately, filled with genres reaching us in many shades and nuances. But somehow, 2024’s dark streak full of excellent Extreme Metal appeared to be gone and lost for good.
That’s a pity in a year that already seems worse than the last one. It is thus good that another grimy Black Metal act just found our review pipe. Because – you know – it can always get worse. Murphy’s law on full display.
Ghörnt2 take no prisoners. Bluetgraf3 tells a story of Vlad Tepes, the feisty impaler, also known as Dracula in pop culture. Transylvania resurrected in all its vampiric splendor, that kind of thing.
And right off the bat, the band erupts with a densely written brand of Black Metal, hardened with sturdy melodic veins. This quirk is also what saves its sizzling bacon from the 10th circle of hell. A traditional yet varied slice of the dark metal arts that risks knocking their elixir-addled French brethren out of the park. And those reigned supreme so far. In other words, the Swiss Black Metallists from Ghörnt injected enough melodics into their barebone fare full of burnt ashes to avoid ending up with a completely dried-up mess. But more importantly, attention to a varied and well-developed production will keep the repetition bug at bay. That’s one negative that many of the traditional Black Metal acts severely suffer from. But Ghörnt isn’t one of them.
Bluetgraf hits you with a ferocious and – I daresay – well-arranged wall of sound. An ever-evolving avalanche of sharp metal shards that will try to shred you to pieces during the limited playtime of some 30 minutes or so. And apart from the fact that there’s only so much your ears can take of such hefty fare, you’ll also get a super-tight, highly intense record, so slim you’ll feel like feeding it some extra time. And that’s not a comment you get often from this here crew.
Jöschu Käser – appearing on this lineup as J – provides a thunderous and outstanding drum performance at a level this crew hardly encountered so far in Black Metal. He – by the way – famously appeared on RMR with yet another strong drum performance on Porta Nigra’s Weltende of 2023. And he is set to be part of Malphas’ new record, releasing on the same date as Bluetgraf.
But there’s more. J here not only delivered mighty blows to this record’s drum kit but also dealt with all other instruments. Thus, the outstanding riffs, licks, solos, and bridges all go to his credit. And finally somebody made decent use of da bass in an Extreme Metal production. If you fancy some of that, fire up Jagd and its nice bass bridge that never quite morphed into a proper solo. As to the hellish vocals on display, Thulus signs responsible for the merciless dialogue of Death Metal-esque growls and vile rasps. Unclean vocals ferociously delivered with wanton power, only broken up by the rare short-lived monologue here and there.
Bluetgraf‘s production is as brutal as it is effective. The band did everything to bludgeon the listener into the dust with relentless BM beatz, acrid guitar work, and about the grimiest growls of 2025. And once you thought that you caught yourself a dime-a-dozen piece nonetheless after the excellent Dominator, Ghörnt suddenly up the ante. The last two tracks, Wit Wääg vo de Sonne4 and Hass (hate), both reach into territory where great records dwell. The former track is thrashier and more steeped in metal o’ the light. Whereas the latter meets the ferocious power levels all the other tracks never quite reached. Suddenly real emotion and a sense of uneasy purpose appears. Something we should have had (much) more of throughout the tracklist.
In the end, Bluetgraf delivers 1/2 hour of relentless Black Metal fury to your turntable. At first the RMR crew expected to find a garden-variety Extreme Metal piece often discovered in such daemon-infested soundscapes. But the more we looked into this little blurb of blackened extremes, the more darkly glowing nuggets we discovered. This is an elaborate piece of vile blackened grime delivered with cruelly fierce firepower and a ton of talent to go with it. So, behold, Ghörnt are about and they will be going places in the future.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Soulseller Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 11 April 2025