Artist: Vindalf
Country: Chile
Label: Signal Rex
Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD
Year: 2024
Although Lord Valtgryftåke, with several albums and other output per year, might be Chile’s most prolific Black Metal musician the award for most intriguing Black Metal goes to Count Vindalf. ‘Undying Order Of The Black Flames’ is Vindalf’s fifth full-length album and although one album might be a bit better than the other, the overall quality that’s on offer under this moniker is quite baffling. Earlier this year Signal Rex released a compilation of older demo and EP tracks, which obviously showed a slightly rawer side of the band, but nevertheless peaked the enthusiasm for a new full-length album, which was released a couple of weeks ago.
Just like the preceding recordings, Vindalf is the sort of Black Metal that is both harsh and sharp, but also overwhelmingly atmospheric – yet without the use of too much keyboards. While there certainly are keyboards to enhance the overall ambiance, the main ingredient here is just great riffs and impeccable song writing. Sharp and icy, in the right Scandinavian tradition, feeling all so familiar without sounding too much like a mirror image of any band in particular.
And while the use of Dungeon Synth/Ambient intros and intermezzos are usually a clear hit or miss sort of thing, Count Vindalf clearly knows his craft and his way of adding those elements to the music definitely pushes the music even further in emotional and dream-like territories. The heavy-brass intermezzos, not all too far removed from Graveland grandeur, are actually a true asset and not just a more or less mandatory accessory to score scene points.
‘Undying Order Of The Black Flames’ actually ticks a lot of boxes that can potentially kill the vibe of an album. Not only those intermezzos, but judging from the shifting in sound and texture, the album also seems to have been recorded in several different sessions. But for some reason, again, the album feels as coherent as it should. It is just the great riffs and alluring melodies that together form the musical vortex that makes the albums swirl in all the right places. Take a listen to the album’s title track for instance, a perfect example of Vindalf’s genius, a true Black Metal clinic.
Count Vindalf might not come up with a new album every few months, nor does he seem to feel the tendency to start half a dozen other bands or projects: he just focusses on Vindalf and takes “quality over quantity” as a serious philosophy – something many musicians these days could take a lesson from.
