Review by Felix on June 15, 2021.

How much viciousness is allowed in black / death metal? Stupid question, the scale is of course open to the top. Anyway, Myronath do not lack this feature. Their second work presents a band that has not modified its style. They present the wicked combination of smoothly flowing guitar lines, ominous atmosphere and ferocious musicality which is typical for the comparable bands from Sweden. Speaking of part of Scandinavia, needless to say that Djevelkraft does not show any signs of weakness in terms of the mix. The sound is rather immaculate, a good mixture of dense profoundness and aggressive directness, polished, but not sterile and naturally not dirty as well. This guarantees the more or less perfect surrounding for the melodies which are painted in sombre colours. Admittedly, this is not the most original approach for a (mainly) black metal release. But the musicians are well attuned to each other, even though this is the first album they created together. Moreover, their individual manual skills are out of question too. Given this situation, Djevelkraft constitutes an album for people who cannot get enough of this kind of metal as long as the quality is acceptable – and that’s definitely the case here.

Myronath do nothing wrong, only minor defects occur. They still have not totally understood the importance of a few catchy parts every now and then and they do not reach the compositional brilliance of kings like Necrophobic so far. Nevertheless, tracks like 'Till Aska' show a great potential. The song shines with density, coherence and compactness. It develops an amazing depth and invites the listener to walk through the fires of hell. The voice celebrates a miniature black mass with every word of the lyrics, the guitars do not deliver just one inappropriate tone and the fiery heat is almost tangible. In the light of the blazing flames of this masterpiece, I even forgive the ordinary fade-out at the song’s end. However, when taking the entire album into consideration, Myronath still have room for optimization. I don’t say that high velocity is the solution for every problem, but sometimes the mid-tempo prevents a more intensive listening experience. This is no big deal at all, because Djevelkraft is immune to any kind of throwaway track. Additionally, it reminds me pleasantly of the art of Dark Funeral. I am just trying to make clear why this is a (very) good, but not an excellent album from my point of view.

Finally, I would like to give the Swedes credit for not showing any signs of wear towards the end of the disc, despite the opulent playing time of almost an hour. Okay, the pretty long outro does not add much value, but the ten regular tracks do not lack substance, compositional ideas or anything else. So enjoy the heavily grinding guitar line of 'To Walk The Path Of The Dead', the explosiveness of 'Reborn In Chaos' and the shivering melodies of 'Evigt Mörker'. I am pretty sure you will not regret it.

Rating: 8 out of 10