It’s safe to say that, for the most part, Swedish Black Metal sounds nothing like Norwegian Black Metal. Marduk sounds nothing like Satyricon, nor does Satyricon sound like Dark Funeral. Flykt are from Sweden, Stockholm to be precise, formed back in 2016 apparently. It’s also safe to say I’ve never heard them before… until now.
Sinister Strain is their second full-length following the release of Charnel Heart (2019) and subsequent EP Through the Earth and Through the Sun (2019) and then… crickets. Nada until a trio of singles leads up to Sinister Strain, and here I am reviewing it. How is it? It’s ok. It’s certainly not going to reinvent the Black Metal wheel, by any stretch. But then again, sometimes things don’t have to be revolutionary to be enjoyable, which is about where Flykt is sitting here in this review.
Starting with “You Will Know Them by the Reek of Defeat”, which is like listening to brown noise, acting as an intro that is slightly off-kilter. It’s suitably ominous and sets up for “Transcendent Rebellion”, a pretty good blaster; it gets a bit Watain-ish near the end with some droning riffs. The production reminds me of Reign of Erebus and their HumanRacist album, communion wafer thin with the treble cranked and the bass somewhere in there. Just clinging on by a fingertip, more or less.
“An Uncarved Block” is reminiscent of Marduk circa Wormwood, which isn’t bad. I just can’t find the drums in there, as much as I want to; all I hear is snare… tap, tap, tap. Now on the other hand, “The Release and Descent” is a bare-knuckle beating. The drums are there, everything is right with the world in this track, and I think it’s where Flykt really stretch their wings out and the song is better for it. It’s brooding mood gets faster at the end till the blasting takes over and it’s catapulted into “Armed with Countless Daimons Seeking Abode”. It’s a Dark Funeral-ish diddy, battering ram drums competing with the fire-spitting guitars. There’s some cool shit going on around the 1:30 mark.
“Rebirth in the Name of Reprisal” has some killer riffs going on. Combative, stabbing, and rapier-sharp. “Unswerving Strife, Unyielding Will” is a pretty decent track; it plays nicely with tempos, one minute blasting hard and the next it’s slow and precise. Meanwhile, “A Furnace for the Stars” is a meandering instrumental track. It’s okay, not groundbreaking by any stretch, but it gets you ready for the 15:18 minutes of “There Comes the Light”. For the first 7:48 minutes of the track, it’s slow and then fast and then… instrumental for the remainder of the song. It’s meh. That’s all.
Seven years ago, Flykt released their debut album, and now they’re releasing their second album. It’s not a horrible album. But it’s pretty hit and miss, and at the end of the day I doubt I’ll be listening to it again after I turn this review in. For you people that like this sort of thing. You know who you are…
