Review by Mladen on August 20, 2023.

In 2004, when Blodulv's second album was originally released, I thought it was charming but wasn't quite sure under what listening circumstances it would give its best. Two years and a nice digipak re-release later, I knew. There are many:

Neighbors wake you up with loud music?

Blodulv.

You want to tell someone to get the fuck out of your room and close the door behind him?

Blodulv.

You want to shatter your eardrums?

Blodulv.

Want to pretend you're a grim necrowinterdemon, even though you're in reality very far from Scandinavia?

Blodulv.

You can even take a scientific approach and look for an album whose frequencies can clean all the undesired vibrations — wait, all vibrations, period — from your living space?

Guess who.

Blodulv ("Blood Wolf" — but the original flows off your tongue so nicely, doesn't it?) were an enigmatic Swedish raw Satanic black metal band, in the finest vein of Darkthrone. Bandmembers were ever-changing and unidentifiable — all I knew about II is that the music was written by Grendel, the lyrics by Aeifur and vocals were done by Nekro. The honorable Mr. Maachinaa was actually an affectionately named drum machine. Who did the rest is unknown, probably because of Blodulv's boasting of "blatantly using certain substances while recording."

The music itself? Arrogant is the word here. The guitar sound is unbelievable — raw, loud and electric, it's the sound of a chainsaw sawing through glass. And if you've ever tried to come up with a simple, true, grim riff — Blodulv put all your efforts to shame. Some riffs are so good yet so simple that it's hard to believe that someone has not thought of them before (personal favorite being the opening one of 'Tyrant').

Add the aforementioned arrogance and you will get a freezing atmosphere with unstoppable gusts of ice shards coming at you. The mid-paced drum beats are elegantly simple and unobtrusive — just as much changes as are necessary, with occasional unexpected crashes and fast bass drum parts (Drum machines don't have two legs but how else do you call double bass drumming?).

The song composition is very much in the "Transilvanian Hunger" style — start with a simple riff, change, work on that, more change and a triumphant return to the initial riff, and it works perfectly and mercilessly. Nekro's thoughtfully displaced (sorry, demented) screams were sharp, full, vicious and distorted, strong enough to turn the music from simple and hypnotic to evil and exciting.

So, feeling necro and needing something to hold in your sweaty hands while dribbling "my preciousss..." repeatedly?

Blodulv.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10