Band:	Khold
Album:	Til Endes
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	September 29, 2014
A review by:	Ilham

01. Myr
02. Skogens Oye
03. Ravnestrupe
04. Dommens Arme [Sepultura cover]
05. Til Endes
06. Det Dunkle Dyp
07. Avund
08. Hengitt

So decomposed that it starts oozing unidentified fluids, giving off a putrid smell and the insides ready to burst if you press too hard with your finger. That's how I like my French cheese, and that's how I like my Khold.

In 2001, these Norwegians released a fantastic piece of gritty mid-tempo black metal called Masterpiss Of Pain, which displayed a rare talent: the ability to write the simplest most repetitive songs and yet give them that distinct gloomy atmosphere and filthy production that turned the catchy into hypnotic. And here we are now, thirteen years later with Til Endes. Unfortunately, I am telling you right now, there is very little left from Masterpiss Of Pain in Til Endes.

Indeed, the band either wanting to detach themselves from their old sound, or not knowing how to go back to it this time, signed a thirty minutes long watered-down version of recent Satyricon-like black metal. Why didn't I say it was a weaker version of themselves? Because that texture, that grease, that signature guitar tone, and those omnipresent trance-inducing basslines are not here anymore.

Now judged on its own, this isn't really a bad album. Gard still provides those distinctive vocals and the lyrics are still in Norwegian - which means he still sounds like the freak he looks like. After four boring songs, Til Endes picks up a little in pace and gets slightly more interesting starting from the title track. But the fans of early Khold might have already given up on it by the time they reach that fifth track. Some work on the production would have highlighted those vocals and the instruments, instead of letting the whole thing fall flat the way it does.

I still can't let go of this without saying something I find important to underline. Til Endes just doesn't feature anything that could be deemed new or interestingly made for anyone with minimal black metal notions. This is 2014, and this particular brand of weak black metal is not relevant anymore. Especially when the previous album, Hundre Ar Gammal released in 2008 after a two year hiatus, was perceived as very satisfying return that brought plenty of groove, dirtiness, punch and even violence back into the Khold discography.

If you're looking for hypnotic, primitive, almost sexual black 'n' roll, similar to one of those deliciously festering cheeses I enjoy, give Masterpiss Of Pain a spin. On the contrary, if you're too refined and posh for that sort of debauchery but still want to bob your head to clean(er) and catchy black metal, I suggest you stop at nostalgia station and go for a ride on Immortal's classic Sons Of Northern Darkness.

Far too clean and limp to be enjoyable, this piece of stale cheese doesn't deserve to bear the Khold label. "Wharm" would be a more appropriate name.