Label: Zwaertgevegt / Folter Records / Black Tapes
Date: January 10th, 2025
There are two reasons why I’m glad to be writing this review. Firstly, I miss writing, as I’ve been filming most of my reviews lately. Secondly, I’m absolutely certain I couldn’t pronounce Grafjammer correctly. I’m not even all that sure of how to translate the word, as it’s some sort of morbid deformation of a marine slang. Adding insult to confusing injury, these guys are supposed to be performing black metal (all the labels listed above are surefire guarantee for that), but the front cover for this record is way too obviously punkish. Except for the sun shaped logo (a wink into Carpathian Forest’s direction) with the inverted anchor (again with the maritime insignia) that doubles as an inverted cross.
Okay, it’s not like black metal and punk have never met before. Nothing groundbreaking in that department, except for the front cover that usually tends to be more inclined to the black metal side of things. The album’s title, on the other hand, already fits into the normative, “Typhoid, dice”. And the music within clears the whole thing up.
Namely, black metal with strong punk undertone. At least in some tracks. All of them are completely drenched in original second wave black metal of Norwegian kind. Brutally cold and atmospheric in its primordial wrath of unforgiving landscape. Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Burzum, Mayhem, you know the names… However, punk is not a necessary ingredient throughout. When it’s there, it’s unmistakably the key to an energetic surge of the track. Its almost vulgar usage, in the vein of said Carpathian Forest, Impaled Nazarene or further liberated recent works of Darkthrone, brings about a whole new picture of Grafjammer.
Set individually, the tracks on “De tyfus, de teerling” are good enough. They show a band that is obviously experienced (formed more than a decade ago) and set in their black metal ways, so that they know how to drive each black arts afficionado into a frenzy (“Rampokker”). Maniacal tempos, rabid riffing and a berserker behind the microphone will do that. Even when Grafjammer is strictly keeping to black metal, leaving punk (almost) completely out of the picture, the songs still retain the quality of composition which is a mark of musicians being knowledgeable about the genre at hand. The trouble is that these differences leave a somewhat ambiguous aftertaste. Seems like there’s a certain lack of cohesion with regards to the record as a whole.
It’s not necessarily a fault, but it does catch an ear when such disparities appear. Other than that, one can always argue the lack of motivation to drive the punk infested black metal forward, total neglect of any type of original approach or fresh outtake on a tried and tested formula. Still, while it’s undeniable that the mentioned statement is a hundred percent correct, I can’t see any band improving on a musical effect of perfected proportions that punk and black metal share when properly combined. Grafjammer utilized the tools and measurements of genre’s originators and put together a record that will not disappoint.
