Norwegian top-act Throne Of Katarsis sort of is a constant element within my end year lists. Their Candlelight-efforts Helvete … (2009) or Ved Graven (2011), for example, did end up with a very high personal score (both reviews I did on these full albums are still available within the Archives-tab). So I was very pleased to receive the promotional edition of this band’s fourth studio album.
First a small introduction. Throne Of Katarsis were formed ten years ago by drummer Vardalv and multi-instrumentalist Grimnisse. The latter left in mean time (at a moment in between both albums I referred to above), and Vardalv was joined by Skinndod (g), Sanrabb (b) and Infamroth (v, g). This line-up seems to be stable for three years in mean time, and it’s the second time they record a full length studio album as a quartet.
The first thing that immediately strikes me when it comes to this fourth full length, The Three Transcendental Keys, is the title: in English, not in Norwegian anymore. Does it mean a completely new chapter with a different musical approach as well?
Please notice a majestic (slightly sardonic and cynical) smile on my (pretty) face, for I can truly add: ‘no, the approach of Throne Of Katarsis has not changed at all’, despite the English title (it leaves me confused, for not totally understanding why the title suddenly comes in English, but this isn’t but bla, bla and more bla). The Three Transcendental Keys still brings a majestic and utterly grim form of Nordic-inspired Underground Black Metal with a raw, unpolished production. As a matter of fact, this album goes completely on in the vein of the past in all aspects: sound (rough and misty, yet decently produced), variation in speed (from funereally doomish to lightning-fast, with everything in between), melodies (balancing in between the extremes of nastiness and epic tradition), and so on… And the average duration of the tracks too is not new: from eleven to twenty minutes, this three-piece album indeed stands for an adventurous journey through spheres of Old Times (including bloody battles and glorious victories). Which brings me, once again, to nothing but superlatives. Throne Of Katarsis are (one of) Norway’s finest!