Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, one-woman project Hulder will release its first LP this January. What with the title, and the traditional peasant garb Hulder's dressed in on the cover, I expected Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry to be a more atmospheric and medieval-themed album than I got, but it certainly doesn't start out that way. Mostly composed of second-wave black metal from the 90s, it colors within the lines of that genre; the few times Hulder departs from that, we get more of the forlorn folk music she refers to and a more interesting experience. The raspy, lo-fi guitar riffing is good -- maybe not as inventive as some of the greats of the genre, but certainly competent and able to hold its own. Hulder's voice, too, sounds every bit as evil as any of her male counterparts, croaking out the lyrics over the blasting guitars. By the third track we start to get a little more nuance than the icy darkness of the first two tracks: Hulder sings clean backup vocals and halts from time to time to play some Nordic-themed clean riffs. De Dijle is quiet but tense, a continuation of the third track on a softer theme with the vocals hissed venomously from a distance and a constant reminder that the ragged distortion of Hulder's guitar stalks nearby. We get the actual peasant's hymn on the second-to-last track, where for a couple minutes Hulder puts her blackened vocals on the shelf and gives a soft, clean-vocal performance, the polar opposite of the rest of her music -- which doesn't last long as she rips into the listener's ears once again, this time mostly sticking with the icy treatment until the end of the album. These are both well-executed too, though I felt like she did better with the more nuanced sound in the middle of the album, where there was more opportunity for atmosphere. Despite a few missed opportunities, this is an intriguing album that shows a lot of promise.