Artist: Galghe
Country: Belgium/The Netherlands
Label: Zwaertgevegt
Format: LP
Year: 2026
On the soon to be released debut full-length ‘Heerscht de Dood nu als Onderkoning?’, Galghe continues on their thematical journey to use their music to tell tales of the past. While ‘Stiers Wreedheid’ aimed to bring Folk tales of the Lowlands to life, the first album centers around the very real horrors of the first world war. The album is divided into two lengthy tracks with a duration of 19:14 and 19:18 respectively, track lengths to signify the time period in which these stories take place. Both tracks are subdivided into four chapters that detail historic locations at the Western front of the war in the period.
While the band’s first demo ‘Bloed Eed’ had a clear Pagan undertone and ‘Stiers Wreedheid’ explored different regions of Black Metal, on their first album Galghe chose to blend the style of both recordings. The backbone is biting Black Metal, but this is more than before interspersed with slower and more atmospheric sections with a Sludgy feel and groove to them. It’s upon these sections that more melodic solos might be placed, and these are just some of the parts where a more Post Black Metal soundscape can be heard. Add in some Ambient samples to connect the parts and what you get is a rich array of Black Metal substyles that do not shy boundaries, but are well-integrated together.
The first track ‘Heerscht de Dood nu als Onderkoning?’ is probably the more uptempo of the both, although about half of it opts for a more creeping tempo. The atmosphere varies from the cold and piercing, to slightly more warming and contemplating. ‘De door Dood verzuurde Bodem’ is mostly a midtempo song, and feels a little more elated in places. Although both songs are presented as one whole, often the ambient samples or battle sounds give some sense of indication when a next historic chapter starts. For instance, the cannonball that rings combined with the sense of dread and pace signals the shift of ‘Sarajevo’ to ‘Liege’ in the title track.
Not only that, but often chapters also have a different language of the lyrics fitting with the place of interest. As the album passes by, Dutch, English and French come by, something that of course ties in well with the theme. Admittedly, since the songs are presented as two lengthy units it was something to get used to, to have different languages alternating each other. Most of the vocals are performed by J. with the exception of ‘Verdun’, the opening chapter of the second track ‘De door Dood verzuurde Bodem’. Here P. brings a more lamenting style that is not unlike Urfaust, and is meant to complement one of the bloodiest battles that took places in WWI.
Reflecting on the album, I think the band did well by honing in on a theme and continuing on their thematic journey. However, while ‘Heerscht de Dood nu als Onderkoning?’ has some excellent sections and is an overall enjoyable album, it doesn’t resonate with me as much as the previous work. Possibly because I’m not as much into the more Post and Sludgy sections. But probably even more so because I feel that perhaps the theme has maybe limited the musical element. By sticking to a certain song duration divided into four chapters, it sounds sometimes as if the band had to compromise to fit everything in the track length and in line with all the chapters. While ‘Stiers Wreedheid’ was perhaps a bit less coherent in terms of stylistic focus, I liked that sort of independent spirit of the tracks. Such a thing would of course have never worked out in songs of 19 minutes, but I can’t help but think that as intriguing as the subject must have been to center an album around, it feels like the theme may have come first instead of the music.
