Gyrdleah finally unveils its first album.
Created in 2005 in England by Flagrum (all instruments/vocals), the project released its first EP in 2011, then signed to Black Lion Records for the release of Spellbinder, in 2023.
Stab The Lamb, the first composition, immediately places a basis of darkness and dissonance within which screams and throbbing rhythmic come to reveal abrasive sounds. We also have lively and Old School moments, but the heady sounds never disappear, letting the rhythmic guide us to the melancholic Gyfu and its heavy slowness. Bass brings this ocean of dark and intense sounds which progresses in us a touch of softness before letting Gathered For The Murder reveal a more oppressive and especially more impressive sound. Whether patterns remain quite similar, we will notice these devastating accelerations punctuating the composition again before arriving to Approaching Gyrdleah, a majestic but still quite distressing interlude. Mystical hovering sounds will end up revealing Speak Of The Devil, a track with heavy Doom influences which will quickly be shaded to let the sharp Black Metal fully express itself. Aggression will give way to coldness on Spellbinder, a slower and haunting track which lets its heady melodies surround us with a certain beauty, but it will be strengthened by this explosion of visceral velocity before letting the occult Vvitch reveal its bewitching tones. The sound is sometimes sparsed, but it remains as dark in the soaring breaks as when the burning rhythmic resurfaces and strengthens while leading us to Six Hundred Threescore And Six and its soothing clear choruses. The contrast with screams is perfect to express this darkness veiling all the rest of the track, which will end to let the outro composed of some distant bells close the album.
With Spellbinder, Gyrdleah unveils a slow and haunting oppressive melancholy which lets the airy Black Metal basis borrow from Old School roots, but also sometimes from heavy Doom influences. The atmosphere is paramount.
85/100