Review by Daniel for Tilintetgjort - In Death I Shall Arise (2023)

I have to admit that I’d never heard of Norwegian black metal outfit Tilintetgjort prior to their brand new debut album “In Death I Shall Arise” being nominated as this month’s The North feature release so I had very little idea of what to expect going into it. Upon investigation I found that there are a couple of links to bands that I’m familiar with though. Bassist Sturt plays with symphonic black metallers Troll who I quite like while English drummer Sathan currently fills the role that legendary Mayhem skinsman Hellhammer used to fill in fellow Norwegian black metallers Den Saakaldte so the band members appear to have a bit of pedigree about them. After perusing a few reviews & other online resources it would seem that Tilintetgjort sit on the more avant-garde side of black metal though which isn’t always a space I like to play so I kept my wits about me going into my first listen to “In Death I Shall Arise” (which really should be the name of a death metal record in all honesty & the wonderfully deathly cover artwork only further enhances the chances of misleading your average consumer).

The first thing you’ll notice about “In Death I Shall Arise” is the unusual production job. I’m sure you’re all well accustomed to a raw, dirty & lo-fi recording style with Norwegian black metal by now but this one is a little different, even if it certainly sits comfortably under those terms. The mix has been afforded a lot of mid-range & the guitars sound very thin & fuzzy which leaves them struggling to compete with the rhythm section who dominate the mix, particularly the bass guitar of Sturt which seems to be the main focal point for the most part. This is especially noticeable when the guitarists go for higher register tremolo-picked melodies as there just doesn’t seem to be enough weight behind them which leaves them sounding weak, unintimidating & overly exposed. It’s a shame really as I think Tilintetgjort have left a bit of potential on the studio floor to be honest. Sturt on the other hand takes full advantage of his favourable position in the mix by showcasing some very inventive bass lines that create a lot of additional interest within some already quite expansive song structures.

It's interesting that I don’t find “In Death I Shall Arise” to be anywhere near as avant-garde as it’s made out to be at other online locations. To my ears, it’s not doing all that much that hasn’t been done before by forward-thinking Norwegians but it’s presented in a quirkier way that sees it standing out as something a bit different nonetheless. Tilintetgjort display a wide variety of home-grown influences from Darkthrone to Ved Buens Ende….. to Ulver to Arcturus but also dip into Celtic Frost waters at times. The blackened vocals of Svik are suitably grim & croaky but never lose intelligibility while guitarists Hazzlegard & Den Gamle offer a whole slew of interesting melodic ideas that once again have me reaching for that unusual term for extreme metal in “quirky”, a word that I have to admit I usually stay well away from in my metal music. Their harmonic counter-play sounds quite off-beat & unique at times. I also enjoy the occasional use of dissonance while the incorporation of some particularly Norwegian sounding acoustic guitar parts & clean Viking/folk vocals (that remind me of Garm from Ulver/Arcturus/Borknagar) is well executed, if not being something that I usually go for. There are some punky drum beats employed on occasion too which briefly takes things into similar territory to the niche subgenre of black ‘n’ roll.

The 46-minute tracklisting contains just the six tracks but is heavily weighted towards the epic 21-minute closer “Dommedagsvmonument” with the other five songs all finishing under the seven-minute mark. I enjoy all but one of the six with the overly quirky “Mercurial” being a bit of a struggle for someone with my taste profile. My clear highlight is unsurprisingly the shortest & most conventional of the six in the very Darkthrone-ish “Hex” which may not try anywhere near as much as the other material but succeeds emphatically in the area of simple & repetitive tremolo-picked riffage & evil, blasphemic black metal vocals. “Vinter og høst” is where you can most clearly see the influence of Ved Buens Ende….. & it saw me wishing that Tilintetgjort had explored that sound a little more to be honest. In saying that, “In Death I Shall Arise”  sees the band jumping around quite a bit from a stylistic point of view but still ends up sounding pretty cohesive which is a feather in the band's caps. It also sounds distinctly Norwegian which I’m sure isn’t a coincidence.

At the end of the day “In Death I Shall Arise” is more of an interesting record than it is one that I can see myself genuinely falling for. I like the ambition more than the reality & a lot of that comes down to taste but I feel that the production job has a lot to answer for too as I can’t deny the feeling that it’s reduced the impact of some of this material. Still… it’s nice to see a new band that can not only pay homage to their influences but also present a sound that presents them in a fresh new way.