Cold and grim, this is 49 minutes of classic-style black metal played with intensity and fury. The music is well-recorded and boasts a thick, strong yet also quite raw sound. It’s not too hyper-polished so that all fans of the more basic sounding classics of the eighties should be happy as well as someone looking for a more modern representative of the second wave of the Scandinavian school.Mainly operating at faster speeds, things do slow down quite often as they band create toxic atmospheres within their aggressive world.The typical tremolo pickings are always accompanied by the eerie and often melancholic sounding lead guitar. Verheerer managed to create some sinister harmonies that might crawl under the listener’s skin and make him feel slightly uncomfortable but fascinated at the same time. Especially within the slower sections some very moody details are added making up for a very intense and satisfying experience.The drumming is on point and although sometimes being very fast and relentless it never gets too chaotic. Generally speaking the songwriting is outstanding here. Although in places coming across as sounding a bit quirky the instrumentation is top notch. That being said the main focus has clearly been put on creating some stringent and captivating tracks that are put together on a single disc in a way to build one fantastic piece of dark art. The music of Verheerer is not just about brainless brutality or showing off technical skills but about taking the consumer on a hellish and obscure journey.The singer’s voice is like sharp, serrated static, clawing at your brain from the inside. When he’s not screaming like the damned he’s growling like a daemon. Either way, it’s a great performance ramping up the intensity even more. A few choral parts and spoken words are also thrown into the mix for good measure underlining the gloomy nature of “Maltrér”.The album is rounded off by an outstanding artwork making it easily worth owning in physical format. I am looking forward to seeing what the guys are going to do next.
