Label: Ván Records
Band: Slidhr
Origin: Ireland/Iceland

Slidhr is on the rise and in its second incarnation it releases a destroyer of an album, titled ‘The Futile Fires of Man’. The band was founded by Joseph Deegan in Ireland but has come to fruition now through the land of fire and ice, where joined by fellow musicians, Slidhr is finding the form of the beast.

Though Deegan still resides in Ireland, his cooperation with Bjarni Einarsson (Wormlust) and Garðar S. Jónsson, both active in Sinmara and Almyrkvi, the sound has become a complete expression. Mixing some death influences with the black gives the sound a meaty, heavy effect. The glossy cover of the vinyl also catches the attention and quite frankly, it’s a great record.

So when we kick off with the title track, it instantly gets heated with high-pace drumming and rolling, rough sound of drum battery and ferocious vocals. It just barrels onward as well, never stopping, never a little lull or intermission, but furious black metal with commanding vocals that never tire. But that is probably what makes Slidhr so good to me, it’s a continuous flow in the most classical sense of black metal. I mean, listen to an old one by Emperor, Mayhem or Watain and that’s what you’ll get. In your face, unrelenting, but a bit more groove and fat on the bones, like Secrets of the Moon or even Mgła.

‘To Celestial Depths’ has these big, lurching guitar riffs, that seem to drag at your very soul. When you really listen to the sweeping tempest that follows, you can sense the rise and fall of the riffing, as it seems to build up to a mighty crescendo. But then the sea calms and sinks back, but there’s never a moment of ease in Slidhr’s music. It can be a boiling, explosive madness at times, like the fury-driven war drums of ‘Rise to the Dying’, with that harrowing intermezzo that only fans the flames further.

‘Through the Mouth of the Beast’ brings the whole run to a close with majestic grandeur and a sincere sense of falling deep into the abbyss. The music is slick, effective, yet also filled with brimming intensity and malice. A mighty finish to an album that’s hard to nail down, but easy to succumb to.