Khold - 'Hundre Ar Gammal'

After their last album in 2005, Khold's future was up in the air. They didn't disband, but decided to put the band on hold for an unknown period of time. In the meantime, Gard (vocals) and Sarke (drums) continued with their other band Tulus while other members did their own thing. After a couple of years, they decided to regroup.

Hundre Ar Gammal is Khold's fifth CD, a slab of dark yet groovy black metal. The songs are dense and mainly mid-tempo with thick riffs and the typical black metal guitar sound. It's not that intense, with blast beats few and far between.

Instead of relying on breakneck speed, Khold focuses on riffs and groove. Several songs have very catchy riffs, which grabs the listener's attention. A few of the songs lack in that department, and with no groove or intensity those tracks are pure filler.

Gard's vocals aren't the high pitched unintelligible shrieks found in a lot of black metal. Instead, he sings with a low pitched rasp that would be perfectly understandable if you spoke Norwegian. The world probably wouldn't have ended if Khold's hiatus was permanent, but if you like your black metal on the groovy side, you'll be happy they got back together and recorded Hundre Ar Gammal.

(released September 2, 2008 on Candlelight Records)