Review by Vladimir on August 28, 2024.

It's been quite a while since we got any news regarding the Norwegian black metal band Trelldom, which has become somewhat very obscured in the shadows for the last couple of years, despite the popularity of their vocalist and only original member Gaahl, whom many are familiar with thanks to his contributions to Gaahls Wyrd, Gorgoroth, God Seed and Wardruna to name a few. Nevertheless, everything would change this year, once the news broke out regarding the release of their new album ...By The Shadows... on September 13th, 2024 via Prophecy Productions. Even though some time has passed since the fans last heard anything new from Trelldom, I believe that the excitement is still there, with many people sweating with anticipation and curious to hear what this has to offer. Well, if you really wish to know more, then let's find out, shall we?

This new album features a stylistic departure from Trelldom's previously established works, by introducing more experimental and avant-garde metal elements combined with their primary black metal formula, while still providing a very dark and dissonant output that evokes a sense of unease and tension. This newly crafted output of Trelldom also has the guest appearance of jazz musician and saxophonist Kjetil Møster, where you can hear his musical flavor with the inclusion of saxophones, clarinets, and electronics blending in with the band's extreme metal performance. Although one would consider this to be a highly unorthodox method, other bands like Sarke and Tulus who had previously done something similar by introducing these saxophone-driven jazz fusion elements in their music, have shown that this is becoming more common and slightly less unusual, but one can agree that it is something that could take time to get used to. One could think that the frequent instrumental work of Kjetil Møster steals the show for Trelldom a bit and in some ways overshadows their entire performance on this album, especially on the instrumental track 'Return The Distance', where the saxophone has taken the role of the leading instrument that essentially pushes the work forward step by step, but I still think that it's moderately balanced to the point without undermining the avant-garde black metal that Trelldom incorporates on this album. While paying close attention to this album note by note, I couldn't help but feel that it has a very subtle psychedelic touch to it, executed in such a way that it showcases a strong psychological factor in the music, almost like a very large curve going up and down with the general flow of this album. Probably the best example that showcases this kind of approach is the fourth track 'Between The World', which really feels like listening to Pink Floyd if they mixed acid and shrooms, and then added some dark magic to it.

The songwriting on this album is very hard to decipher, because there are complex song structures with a lot of layers to their output, but a lot of the time you also get the feeling that it's executed in a somewhat linear and straightforward fashion. Considering that the band is Gaahl's brainchild, it's very noticeable that wanted to take the music of Trelldom towards a drastically different direction, with the final result showing a completely new dimension that would ultimately distance itself from the black metal roots, while still maintaining the suspenseful dark and dissonant traits. The personal highlight on this album for me is easily Gaahl's vocal performance because his performance really adds this feeling of nature's spirit whispering in your ear with its ominous voice, adding so much to the intense atmosphere like it's trying to possess you and never let go. I actually don't mind the fact that Gaahl decided to reshape the work Trelldom into something much more alien and otherworldly, but my biggest flaw about the album is that the musical execution doesn't always feel as effective or powerful as it should be, and its not just due to the saxophone instrumentation of Kjetil Møster which at times feels a bit out of place, but also in terms of the band's overall musicality that feels somewhat empty and uninspiring, despite all the experimenting and the avant-garde elements. By no means am I saying that the music is all noise and completely lifeless or senseless, but you can tell that it's just out of touch sometimes and very difficult to grasp, especially since this is their new album after 17 years, which would obviously take time for some fans to get used to. Aside from all that I said, the album as a whole has a very solid sound production that nicely brings out the instrumentation of Trelldom, as well as the vocal performance of Gaahl.

Overall, ...By The Shadows... is by no means a bad or a terrible album, it is certainly a new and interesting start for Trelldom which I believe could be nicely expanded in the future, albeit with a more consistent and refined songwriting that could really go somewhere. Whether this album means that this is the end of their black metal days or not, I am actually curious to know how further the band can take this newly established output, especially since it's a heavy stylistic departure in comparison to their previous album Til Minne... from 2007. If you are interested in seeing how this long-running Norwegian outfit that is Trelldom took on a different form, then feel free to check out ...By The Shadows... when it's released.

Rating: 7 out of 10