Völva “Desires Profane”
Desires Profane will be released Nov 28th on Grind To Death Records
Sweden blackened crust punk act Völva have established a rising band to keep an eye on since the band’s formation in 2018. After a demo and the band’s 2020 EP Promises Unfold as Lies, the band has completed it debut studio album, Desires Profane, on Grind To Death Records. In a sea of Sweden’s black metal scene, and a resurgence of crust punk acts like His Hero is Gone & Wolfbrigade, how does the band stand out amongst its peers on its debut album?
The album opens with “The Tower”. With a gurgling, reverb heavy bass and thundering drums, the song builds with ominous war-like drumming beneath ringing guitars. The palm-muted riff begins to rise up from the depths of the heavy bass and thundering tom strikes. Very crust punk in the main riff on the verses, with interspersed double bass and blast beat flurries in-between the chorus and musical breaks. Hedonistica’s vocals have a gravelly grit to them like Abbath, but with a higher screaming range at many points. Could be just Hedonistica or guitarist Vittra on backing, it’s a little hard to tell. The halfway mark shows the energy double time and pick up, with tremolo guitar playing soaked in heavy distortion, amongst the double bass beneath it. Skuld’s drumming power has so much presence in the mix, punching through in every strike. Especially in combo of blast beats and cymbal strikes. A production style that mimics the early demo quality at some points of early second wave black metal.
The second track, “Walk With Me”, has that same bass-ringing tone, but pummeling double bass and ringing guitars hanging in the space of the mix. Then, the band adds fuel to the fire and go straight for the jugular with the speed and hostility. Sounding like early Darkthrone in the musicianship and production. Such distortion and grit on Vittra’s guitar tone, it just sounds so nasty and harsh. Truly channeling the origins of the band’s homage to the early era of black metal. Hedonistica’s vocals also have that brash, harsh and visceral disgust in the delivery. Really drawing from the bile of her throat to deliver that phlegmy, caustic and evil sounding vocal performance on the track.
“Expulsion of The Flesh” hits the ground running with brash, violent and aggressive guitars and drums. Just punishing and bombarding the listener with guitars and blast beats. Vocals are just unhinged and unrelenting in the delivery. With little pauses of palm muted chugging, the band just constantly attacks the ears with unmitigated speed and thrash elements. The song flies by in nature and speed, with again no taking their foot off the gas until about the halfway mark. Where the song almost heads into a groovy, sludge-like breakdown with wailing guitars and thundering fills. An atmospheric lead guitar soars over the intermittent double bass and bass chugs. As the pacing begins to build back up and speed up as the song draws closer to the close of the track.
A great drum fill opens “Inverted Cross”. Bringing back nostalgia for me with a Mayhem sounding opening riff into the verses section. Vocals again are just unhinged screams of anger and blasphemy amongst the cavernous tremolo guitars and high-octane drumming. It definitely has that crust punk aesthetic sound, but leaning more towards raw black metal, or even first wave of black metal like Venom or early Bathory. Drums are like artillery fire as the song heads into the bridge of the song at the three quarters mark. Vocals are back to screams of anguish, hatred and indistinguishable shrieks. Mimicking an emotional breakdown as the drums and tremolo guitars bring the song to a close.
A gnarly sounding opening guitar and tone opens up “Never Forgive”. So much distortion, feedback and grittiness captures that demo-like sound that black metal is known for. The production amps up as the rest of the band joins in and the song officially gets going. Capturing that soundscape of blistering winter, isolation and loneliness, the music has a depressive suicidal black metal sound akin to Leviathan or Xasthur in the musicianship and vocal performance of Hedonistica. Some effects are heard near the halfway mark that create an anxious and uneasy-inducing feeling as the song progresses.
“The Serpent” features an almost melodic black metal sounding opening guitar and drum combo. Very slow opening, really help build the ambience and dark nature of the band’s sound and tone. Drums pick the pacing up to blast beats and driving tremolo. Vocals are so guttural and low, almost buried in the mix behind the guitar and drums at some parts. Before rising and becoming the main focus into the chorus. A very crust-punk sounding chorus with driving drums, phlegmy screams and up-tempo playing in the speed and thrash elements. The song definitely captures the same intensity and vibe of “Expulsion of The Flesh”.
An almost old school death metal riff opens up “Perpetual Putrefaction”. Very chugging and groovy at some parts, especially with the double bass and bass in tandem. Another great crust-punk sounding song. Vocals are mixed perfectly in the track, with capturing the black metal aesthetic of harshness and brashness, while also mixing well and standing out at certain points. The song flies by in pacing and seems to just not let up at any point. Even with the slower pacing near the three quarters mark, the song does come to a thundering end.
“Asmodeus” and it’s thrashy tremolo guitars segue beautifully into the verse section. I was drumming along to Skuld’s drumming on this section. It was a perfect hybrid of black metal, crust punk and maybe crossover thrash throughout the whole track. Which the band executes that mutation of genres perfectly on this track.
Ringing walls of distortion and feedback open the track “Salvation”. With hi-hat flurries, into thundering tom hits, the song’s slower, mid-tempo build truly does sound so brooding and unholy in the beginning. Fuel gets added to the fire as the drumming and guitars speed up to eleven as Hedonistica’s vocals rise from the unknown and add a more sinister attack to the already ominous sound from the rest of the band. Bass really begins to ring through the mix at the halfway mark over the guitars. Adding more heft to the dark embrace of the song’s occult like nature. I was also slow headbanging along at the halfway mark. As the slow, chugging riff and bass held back to let guitars cascade over the rest of the band. My favorite track on the album.
The album closes with the song “Vagabond”. An opening barrage of blast beats and tremolo truly just show the band going for the throat for the album’s finale. Vocals are again sounding unhinged and ramblings of a banshee and a madwoman as the band just plays as fast as they possibly can. The chorus is heavy, brutal, dark and foreboding as the drums lead the heart-pounding drive of the song. I do like the wailing screams at the three quarter mark heading into the closing chorus. A sonic assault on the ears for one hell of a closing track.
Völva’s debut album really is a true onslaught of punishing crust punk and black metal. Aggressive in nature, violent in delivery and manic in the vocals. It truly mimics and pays homage to the roots of black metal, while also pushing the genre with the infusion of crust punk into the band’s heavy sound. Even with the band dabbling in other variations of black metal, they still pulled off that hybrid or infusion very well. Wondering if on future records the band will infuse more of those elements on future records. Völva scratches that crust punk itch that is better than some of their contemporaries. I would say even better than the Darkthrone crust punk records. Great record and a band to keep an eye out for this band in the future.
SCORE: 4.5 / 5
You can pick up the album on the band’s Bandcamp or the band’s Spotify. If you want to check out the band’s tour dates on the band’s Instagram .
