Svartpest – Mjodfest (2010)

With a story that reads like a soap opera (according to the press kit), today we have Norway’s Svartpest and their latest release “Modfest”. In this album we get 7 tracks of a mixture of Black Metal with some Viking/Folk influences that feels somewhat a bit undercooked, but decent enough to make an ok album.

Taking 3 songs from their 99 demo (with the same title), the band gives us a total of 7 tracks that dramatically vary in quality, but have a few decent ones to call this album a ‘lukewarm’ success. We have nothing against such releases, but we think is kind of lame to rehash older songs for newer releases (unless you are a band with a long (and recognized) trajectory).

The album starts with the song “Trutokt”, a very powerful piece that might mislead you into thinking this whole album will be amazing. Here we are reminded of the Black Metal days of Ulver (the melodic years), allowing the track to be easily the best one of this release. The album’s title track is the next onslaught and it keeps building on the whole Ulver circa- 1995 feeling with clean choir sections and nice tempo changes.

Things move into a bit of Falkenbach territory with “Gudekrig” and the band still retains the listener’s interest. Said interest starts to get lost after the fourth song, a bit of a filler piece that shows the band can be ‘brutal’ and that Oyvind Haga can play solos. The self-indulgent ‘mystical’ track “Drukken” has a cool atmosphere but completely kills the flow of the album.

Closing off the release, the sixth song again fills a bit hollow. With uninspired drumming, very vanilla riffing and ‘normal’ vocals there is not much to be said. The last song “Aske til Aske Blood til Eld” shows again the more brutal side of things and you can hear the overlaid solos very distinctly, as if they are not part of the music. However, we have to say that this is probably the best song of the album since it features almost all the things we liked about this release and provides a solid closing argument for the band.

In general, we are surprised that after so many years Condatis can’t come up with newer songs for this band and has to use older ones (probably they are re-worked, but is still pretty weak). While there are a few moments where Svartpest shines, they are usually obscured by mindless repetition and lack of direction. We can only hope that with future releases, Svartpest improves greatly.

Release: 2010

Country: Norway