Usually the trajectory that a black metal project started by one man would take is to have that one man, in this case Roman "Bizarre" V., take care of most of the instruments and, if necessary have some session musicians take care of drums or vocals, leaving the founder to be the "everything-elser", a term I've become quite fond of. Bizarrekult was founded in Russia (since relocated to Norway) in the mid 2000s by two members of Dryados as a side-project. Alexander "Adv" P. handled drums on the debut demo, and continues to do so to this day, leaving everything else for the everything-elser Roman, so at least at some point Bizarrekult followed that formula. Imagine my surprise to find out that, since resurfacing in the late 2010s and since putting out the full lengths that actually got them recognition, that formula shifted significantly. Aside from playing guitars on the first EP since the reunion, Roman's performance role has been relegated to the vocals, with the instrumental side being taken over by one Ignat P., quite shifting the expected formula on its head.
Of course that is of little relevance to Alt Som Finnes, already the third album in this formula of Bizarrekult, which is pretty much the only Bizarrekult formula to release full length albums. The one thing that is an instantly obvious roster change is the addition of guest vocalists in the form of Dødheimsgard's Vicotnik, Cross Bringer's Lina, and Møl's Kim, and it's quite a jump to go from none to three, making Alt Som Finnes, while still roughly the same runtime-wise at slightly over 40 minutes, feel like it packs more within it.
As with previous albums, there's a balance between black metal and post-metal, in a way that makes it feel like one genre played with elements from the other, even if I'd have an easier time calling it a black metal record than a post-metal one. Alt Som Finnes pulls more from black metal in terms of aggression and harshness especially on the vocal front, while the post-metal side is most obvious in the melodic atmospheric focus, one that's noticeably warmer in tone, partly also because of how some of that nuance clearly takes some cues from blackgaze.
Alt Som Finnes is kind of a contradiction in that it is overtly melodic, both in a melancholic mellow way and in a brighter blistering way, but it also doesn't feel overly melodic in an instantly gratifying way. Despite it all, Alt Som Finnes still feels like a slow burner.
