Band:	Cirkeln
Album:	The Primitive Covenant
Style:	Melodic black metal
Release date:	November 03, 2023
A review by:	F3ynman

01. Garden Of Thorns
02. The Witch Bell
03. Ensam I Natt
04. Defiled And Satanized
05. Awakened By Lost Arcane Premonitions
06. As I Lay Waiting
07. His Master's Coils
08. The Death Of Thy Father

Cirkeln veer off from their meloblack roots to embrace a more primitive yet varied style, combining ominous doom riffs, aggressively thrashy hooks, and catchy melodies all the way through.

Cirkeln is a Swedish one-man band that I first encountered last year. It was the hottest day in July, reaching temperatures of 37 °C, and I was walking through the botanical garden of my university campus. Stepping into range of the periodically swaying water sprinklers kept me somewhat hydrated. But, eventually, exhaustion took over, and I slumped onto a park bench in the shade of some low-hanging trees. Lying there on my back, I whipped out my phone and began to browse Bandcamp. That's when the blindingly bright cover art of Cirkeln's sophomore album A Song To Sorrow grabbed my attention. The cold black metal on display turned out to be a better refreshment than I could've hoped for. Who says black metal is only a winter genre?

On A Song To Sorrow, I was introduced to Cirkeln's entertaining meloblack mixture, as they combined the chilling musicianship of Emperor with grand, epic elements à la Summoning or Bathory's Viking style. More traditional meloblack influences were also apparent, especially the similarities between the song "Hills Of Sorcery" and Dissection's "The Somberlain". A Song To Sorrow ended up ranking among my top ten favorite releases of 2022, and, therefore, I anxiously awaited a sequel.

Unlike some melodic black metal bands who remain content with producing album after album of the same formula, Cirkeln deviate from their previous musical trajectory with their newest album The Primitive Covenant. Admittedly, the change isn't immediately obvious when one listens to the first song. With a mesmerizing atmosphere, "Garden Of Thorns" entices the listener in pleasantly vicious tremolo-picking and eerie melodies. The album even hearkens back to their heavily Tolkien-inspired debut Kingdoms That No One Remembers with the beautiful cover art by famous Tolkien-themed illustrator Ted Nasmith, which depicts Boromir sounding the Horn of Gondor as the Orcs of the White Hand chase after the Hobbits.

But, with the second track, "The Witch Bell", one instantly notices a rather sudden transition to a more aggressive and thrashy approach that's unmistakably reminiscent of the First Wave of Black Metal. In the vein of early Bathory, Celtic Frost, or Venom, Cirkeln use harsh shouting vocals, fast percussion, and groovy riffs to create a fun, devilish proto-black sound.

Still, throughout the album, Cirkeln manage to put their own unique spin on this meshing of metal genres. On the one hand, they regularly alternate their black metal approaches, whether it's the atmospheric choirs that conclude the first track; the simplistic yet catchy groove of "As I Lay Waiting" that's reminiscent of early Greek black metal; or the triumphant Viking metal anthem of the final track "The Death Of Thy Father". On the other hand, Cirkeln also branches off from black metal to dabble in other genres. For instance, at the 4:44-minute mark of "The Witch Bell", a mean and lumbering doom metal riff is introduced, which is very clearly inspired by the main melody of Candlemass's "Solitude". Later in the tracklist, Cirkeln also lean more into the vile end of the metal spectrum such as on "Defiled and Satanized" or "His Master's Coils", which offer plenty of moments that could be mistaken for death, thrash, or doom death.

Overall, The Primitive Covenant marks a surprising and significant change in Cirkeln's musical style. Emphasizing metal's more primitive elements, they veer off from their standard meloblack style to embrace, on the one hand, aggressive and thrashy proto-black, and, on the other hand, slower, denser doom and death metal guitar-work. More chug. More thud. But with lots of catchy riffs and still loads of entrancing atmosphere. This entertaining mixture of various styles is perhaps best executed on the song "Awakened By Lost Arcane Premonitions" which seamlessly transitions from contemplative doom to soaring black metal to cavernous death metal to catchy folk melodies and even calm ambience. In the end, it's quite hard to pin down all of the influences and styles on display here. One thing's for sure: the songwriting keeps you on your toes and entertained all the way through! So, what are you waiting for? Go and have a listen for yourself: