Karmanjaka – Gates Of Muspel Review

Black metal can often feel and sound triumphant. That triumph, however, is still very often connected to grimness, darkness, hell, war or any other sentiment rooted in capital E evil. Karmanjaka’s third album Gates of Muspel is very much a hearty dose of triumphant black metal, but they illicit that descriptor from a brighter place and, dare I say, a sense of fun? The melodic elements that permeate the riffs come with a power metal sensibility. There’s a brightness and clarity to the guitar tone coupled with an uplifting nature to the riffs that makes this a much more pleasant listen than you would expect from cover art like the above and a black metal genre tag. Gates of Muspel is sort of like if Phoenix Rising spent more time in the sun by the pool rather than the depths of a fiery volcano or if that giant demon on the cover of Yoth Iria’s 2021 album showed up at your door wanting to give you a high five and play some records while sipping beers. 

The opening stretch of “Draug” exemplifies Karmanjaka’s strengths perfectly. It begins with a marching drum pattern, an occasional low brown note from a horn, then one guitar starts piling onto the rhythm while the other does a quick melodic run that repeats, and eventually, the song just explodes. It all just builds and builds to a sense of soaring toward the sky, which is a very power metal thing to do. Every part of the song is driving and energetic. 

The first half of the album offers four shorter tracks that all offer melodic hooks, killer harmonies, memorable riffs and delightful leads. The record doesn’t have to play for very long before you realize that these Swedes know how to write high-quality, varied leads. The first one to appear in the opening title track is a more subdued and brief piece, while the second one brings the fire, but both stay pretty even in the mix. On “Ancient Aeon,” however, the first lead is higher in the mix in an open space making it a focal point while the second one rolls into a slower weeping territory. If you’re keeping count at home, that’s four leads in the first two songs; these fellas like making their guitars sing. You’ll likely have the line “older than the sun, ancient aeon” stuck in your head on repeat after you hear that song because they also know how to write a damn catchy hook. 

At the midpoint of Gates of Muspel, we’re treated to the nearly seven-minute “Amongst the Waves” that pretty significantly breaks the established formula and style put forth on the first four songs. The main elements remain the same, but the structure and approach open a whole new avenue for Karmanjaka. The sounds of thunder and rain roll in to support a slow, clean guitar before pseudo-clean vocals kick in, sounding like a black metal Kirk Windstein. The whole song has this somber drawn-out nature that makes it almost feel like a power ballad that’s still packed with riffs. Does it also have killer leads, you ask? Of course! It offers two more fantastic slow-burn, blues-laden note fests.

The closing track also jumps out of the primary formula established on the record. Pushing the ten minutes, this one is where they truly aim for the “epic” tag. They earn that tag not by simply offering a longer song but because it has an epic amount of quality razor-sharp tremolos, a clean shredder of a riff, a passage that’s a maelstrom of whirlwind notes overlaid with clean plucks, and is just an all-around guitar showcase. They also throw in some synths and bagpipes (I think) to add some unexpected sounds to the mix – those types of accouterments appear in a few other places but are never quite as potent as they are here. The song is big, sounds big, and, most importantly, FEELS big. 

Don’t get it twisted; this album is still heavy, throws in many a dark passage, and is absolutely a black metal album through and through, but goddamn, is it fun. Something that feels this good and manages to be this infectious should be considered essential listening regardless of your opinions on how scary black metal is supposed to be.