Review by Saxy S for Ved Buens Ende..... - Written in Waters (1995)

Last month I wrote a review for Darkthrone's famous 1992 album A Blaze in the Northern Sky and how it was the catalyst in the rise of black metal during the 90s. Unsurprisingly, a lot of Scandinavian bands followed suit. Also surprisingly, a lot of those groups never received the same clout as those bands, even though, subjectively, they made far more interesting music.

That was certainly the case for Ved Buens Ende..... a Norwegian black metal band that was willing to traverse towards the near absurd in their music. The band stuck around for over two decades, but their full length studio albums were limited to...just one; this one! And it is quite absurd, almost teetering to the point of being pretentious for its own sake. But the strangest part about it all is...I kind of enjoy it?

And coming right out of the gate, you may wonder where the black metal comparisons come from. The first two tracks "I Sang for the Swans" and "You, That May Wither" have almost no affiliation with that genre. They are much more in line with what we might call "post-metal" in the modern era; lots of wall of sound guitars, some pretty strong melodies from both the lead guitar and vocals, fluent, diverse bass lines not confined to the rhythm guitar, and percussion that is not overwhelming, but still has plenty of opportunities to be pummeling and can throw you off guard.

With all of the odd time signatures and weird scale progressions used, you would be well within yourself to label this as some form of progressive/avant-garde metal. And while these ideas continue further into the record, something odd happens on "Den Saakaldte": blast beats and screeching vocals make their debut, and they persist on basically every tune the rest of the way. And while I do like the black metal influence that is here, those vocals just sound beat down and weak. I found them to be very reminiscent of the most recent Oranssi Pazuzu album that came out earlier this year. In fact, you could probably make that comparison based on the rest of the album too.

Composition wise, this album does a good job of splitting the difference between booming melodic phrases, and harsh, alienating dissonance. The dissonance is not simply added to these tunes to make you feel uncomfortable, they always work towards something bigger. They build tension and uncertainty, only to release it in a black metal assault and it's very much appreciated. Unfortunately, some of the tunes are not as well composed and feel like a fruit platter; not that any of the ideas are bad on their own, but they aren't mixed well together. It's not an album for people who just want their black metal riffage and to be done with it. You have to be willing to take the time and give it your full attention.

But in summary...look I was looking for an odd sounding metal album and that what Ved Buens Ende..... delivered. What I ended up getting that I was not expecting was an avant-garde black metal record that pushed the proverbial boundaries, in a genre that had only been revitalized maybe three/four years prior. I enjoyed what I heard, even if this is an album that I probably won't return to very often.