APTORIAN DEMON – LIV TAR SLUTT LP (Kyrck Productions & Armour)

Orchestrator-of-agony-and-anguish Storhetsvanviddets Mester manifests suitably solemn and sombre in the black-and-white portrait adorning the back cover of Aptorian Demon’s long-awaited and gratefully-received second full-length. ‘Liv tar slutt’ translates as ‘Life ends’, a deciphering which hints at what’s troubling the contemplative and unhinged mastermind behind this dark observance of eerie, macabre Black Metal.

It’s been twelve harrowing years since the unsung ‘Libertus’ was unleashed. The foul, flame-fanning debut was one of the most important records to emerge from Trondheim this millennium but Storhetsvanviddets Mester is an outlier of sorts who stands apart from the justifiably-hyped and acclaimed Nidaros ‘scene’, so it slipped under the radar somewhat. Not that he’s a hermit,, mind you … for the recording of ‘Liv tar slutt’, appropriate associates have been enlisted, most prominently Gjendød jinns KK (drums, vocals) and K (guitars, bass). Outcasts align.

The wait has been worth it. From start to finish, this record stubbornly does its own thing whilst remaining an immersive oddity, a wild and frenzied celebration of darkness and specifically death in all its might and inevitability. Glorious, grim, uncontrived, inebriated Black Metal that acknowledges neither time nor trends, ‘Liv tar slutt’ is a powerful personal statement from its creator packing severe torment, trauma and madness into 28 malevolent minutes.

It reeks of Trondheim, and its graves, a frenetic emission of fevered Mare-meets-Taake Black Metal mania merged with flourishes of folkish, acoustic embellishment, the most enduring such intermission being penultimate offering, ‘Sviking’ (‘Betrayal’), a maddening instrumental with a befittingly bizarre ending. There’s also a short vocal-less intro and outro, so only half of the six curses presented are ‘songs’ in the conventional sense (whatever that might mean these days). But, despite its brevity, ‘Liv tar slutt’ is a truly outstanding not-giving-a-fuck, one-off display of uncompromising, spirited, inspired underground Black Metal mayhem. Something defiantly different and unique in times of widespread, mind-numbing mediocrity.

Guard your own grave.

Evilometer: 666/666