Verslonden

The Netherlands' Hellehond present some straightforward but effective black metal on this short album. Verslonden is fill with heavy, abrasive, raw black metal that mixes the Scandinavian school of the '90s and early 2000s. There's a bit of a Darkthrone vibe here and there that just keeps popping up, though Hellehond's delivery is more polished. Things are mostly mid-paced and that just adds to the crushing heaviness at times. The vocals are top-notch black metal rasps that are decipherable with a bit of effort. Somehow they also manage to make some of the songs kind of catchy, which is no mean feat in the genre. Good stuff.