Band:	Huldrefolk
Album:	Morbide Elite
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	November 01, 2009
A review by:	Bas

01. Lijkenkarren
02. Koudvuurhaard
03. Kauwakkers
04. Rotkreupel
05. Wevenaar Van Lijkenwaden
06. Ravenkringen
07. Beschimpt
08. Haatkiemen
09. Grafhaatschrift
10. Klaagzang Der Flagellant

As the cover art strongly suggests, Morbide Elite is a black metal album. It's the type of black metal that leans heavily towards the old greats of the genre and displays a serious primitive attitude. Lyric-wise the Belgians didn't opt for the often-trotted Satan-is-my-fuck-buddy path, but instead sing about pest and hunger in their native Flemish language.

Packing a whole suitcase of lightning-paced drumming and riffs as dirty as a pig's ass, Huldrefolk have already mastered two of the most important ingredients for a great black metal album. Unfortunately the vocals don't completely live up to the instrument's high standard. They get the job done, but do sound a bit weak in the process. Varied song structures - including some melodic parts (played with clean guitars though, there are no keyboards on this release) - and somewhat diverse songs are also always a good thing. One of the only issues I have with this CD aside from the vocals is that the production is just a bit too muddy. Of course it's not supposed to be clean in the rawer forms of black metal, but I feel that it should have been just a bit better to do justice to the guitar work.

With a pleasant playing time of just over 50 minutes and a 16-page booklet to complete the package, Morbide Elite is a solid album for enthusiasts of the genre. Granted, they're not doing anything new and there definitely are some bands that are even better at playing this kind of music, but this is still a good, strong album. If you enjoy this music you're likely to like Huldrefolk as well, in case you don't, these Belgians won't change your opinion either.