Runemagick is still alive and kicking.
Since 1990 (under the names Desiderius and then Runemagic), Nicklas Rudolfsson‘s project (all instruments/vocals, Domedag, Gravfraktal, Necrocurse, The Funeral Orchestra, ex-Sacramentum…) has been working in Death/Doom, and to celebrate his 35-year career, he offers us Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms), his fourteenth album, on Hammerheart Records.
Dísa Draugurinn (shamanic vocals), Lussidotter (vocals), and Louvrianne Roux (dulcimer) also contribute to this album.
The album opens with Wyrd Unwoven, a long, disturbing and heavy opening track that starts with strange tones, then builds to the band’s usual heaviness, topped off by Nicklas‘ screams, which complete this picture of dissonant darkness. The jerky approach allows the musician to create waves of catchy brutality, but also a few more melodious moments or, on the contrary, very suffocating ones, such as the outro that leads to Old Bones, where melancholy takes on more ethereal tones. The sound is also quite thick, regularly disturbed by the vocals but also by the mysterious touches that the musician adds, letting the guitars create a more ethereal atmosphere before restarting the machine and becoming even more macabre on The Hollow Chant Of The Seer. The vocalist’s growls are accompanied by oppressive tritones and a few choirs, and we find darkness in every note, every beat, and every word, just like on The Runestone’s Lament, which then crushes us with its haunting sounds. Although very long, the track is hypnotic and its riffs captivate us while the vocalist does his job, sometimes accompanied by Lussidotter‘s vocals, which accentuate the occult side of the track, unlike Womb Of The Veiled Sun, where the musician develops a much more aggressive atmosphere, both in terms of the explosive rhythm and the almost incessant roars. The sound breaks down and adopts minimalist funeral doom accents, only to return to its initial violence before giving way to Ashen Realms, a calmer outro rooted in more mystical, almost ritualistic tones, to close the first part of the album.
However, the musician did not intend to stop there, as he follows up with Spired of the Drowned Horizon, the first bonus track, which immediately returns to the heaviness and haunting sounds brought by intoxicating leads, but we still note a certain reassuring softness in the breaks. The returns to violence are all the more striking, but the contrast is also very strong with Embers Of The Unwritten Dawn – Part 1 and its hazy sounds accompanying the female vocals, as well as with the mysterious strings of Embers Of The Unwritten Dawn – Part 2, which leaves our minds wandering in uncertainty by the fireside. The last offering on this album is the demo version of Beneath The Solar Embers, a composition with a much rawer mix than the previous ones, but which also fits into a heavy dynamic soothed by a few choirs, still offering its melancholy a rockier base to express itself and thus close the collection.
Runemagick is one of those projects with impressive longevity that is still active in underground circles and has the ability to captivate us with new releases such as Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms). A real treasure for the ears.
90/100