Review by Felix on June 27, 2024.

Looks decide whether you are attracted to a person, but character decides whether you really like that person in the end. It's similar with records and CDs. The look is the cover, the character is the music. The artwork of “Beneath the Mold” has appeal, but the music only confirms this to a limited extent. This puzzles me, as this is already the band's fourth album. So we're not talking about overconfident or disorientated beginners. In fact, Vananidr from Sweden don't do much wrong, but the feeling of black metal fury is hard to come by. The first half and the last section of the title track embody fanaticism and total dedication, but all in all, the album fails to create a monolithic atmosphere. Instead of drawing the audience deeper and deeper into the abyss, too many sections give the listener space to take a deep breath and to regenerate. The piano intermezzo in “Beneath the Mold” (the song) makes clear what I mean. It does not enrich the track, it tears it apart.

Vananidr never lose control about their music. This is actually a matter of course, but I guess you know what I mean. While some pioneering black metal works gave us the feeling that we are listening to artists who have totally gone insane or have become completely one with their songs, we are now getting albums where musicians show their kind of well designed black metal. Too much head, not enough (black) heart. Spontaneity does not belong to the closest friends of formations like Vananidr. Anyway, their compositions do not lack a profound foundation. Some melodies suffer from predictability (“The Watcher”) and all of them have inhaled the guidelines of the subgenre very deeply. But the latter is no problem. The genre leaves enough room to set your own aroma and Vananidr do this successfully in some songs.

“Beneath the Mold” wants to combine the tragic and the furious side of black metal. This is not an overambitious approach, but things work better whenever Vananidr concentrate on one facet. For instance, the vehement “Dressed in Pain” is executed excellently. Here we get merciless high speed, intense guitars and echoing vocals in a compact and robust form. The closer sounds very similar and features the same elements. These songs give the album some necessary impulses, while the opener “Dominion” does not really hit the mark, also its beginning builds a lot of tension. Not only because of the solid production, one can lend an ear to this work, even though it does not revolutionize the genre or pushes tried and tested methods into dizzying heights. I am not totally fine with the level of coherence here, but at the end, the positive aspects of “Beneath the Mold” prevail.

Rating: 7.1 out of 10