Nine Circles

Dödsrit first appeared on my radar back in 2018 with Spirit Crusher, a very solid offering that combined long, drawn-out buildups characteristic of atmospheric black metal with the d-beat-driven aggression of crust punk. In the time since they graduated from solo band to four piece and in 2021 released Mortal Coil, which began to look towards a more melodic future. With Nocturnal Will the band have fully committed to the melodicism that was merely hinted at previously — easing back on many of the crust elements in exchange — with the end result being a triumphant slab of bombastic black metal that is easily the best album in the band’s discography, and an early frontrunner for black metal album of the year.

Nocturnal Will pulls no punches right from the get-go; with the twin guitar harmonies and blistering blast beats that open first track “Irjala,” Dödsrit show us right away where they’re at in 2024. Compositionally the song isn’t too different from past work — a slower, clean guitar break in the middle builds up to an epic conclusion (in a manner pretty standard for modern atmo/post-black metal) — but it’s the emphasis on melody that makes for a different and far more rewarding experience than their past material. Every time I hear the melodies in the closing minutes of the song transition from trem-picked to single sustained notes, I think my soul ascends to a higher plane. There’s some magic fire kindled by taking the heavy metal bombast we grew up with and inflecting it into this type of black metal so effectively. If the band needed to hammer home their current musical trajectory any further, just take in the album cover depicting a knight in a winter forest; whether mortally wounded or merely kneeling, it so accurately represents the heroic, triumphant direction taken on Nocturnal Will when compared to their previous works.

Those yearning for the crust elements that have been a staple of the Dödsrit sound may find this album a bit lacking; first single “Nocturnal Will” is the only song on the entire album to even feature d-beats! Elsewhere punkier aspects of the Dödsrit sound only make an occasional appearance in certain drum patterns. I’ll chalk this up to lack of interest in the subgenre, but it seems like there’d be only so many ways you can perform “blackened crust” without retreading the same territory over and over again. Nocturnal Will is also the first Dödsrit album to feature more than four tracks; the bookends of the album are the standard 8-10 minute songs, but in a demonstration of the band’s newfound melodicism they spice things up with not one, but two instrumental tracks smack dab in the middle of the album. “Ember and Ash” is a pleasant acoustic guitar interlude, and “Utmed Gyllbergens Stig” is an infectious lead-driven earworm that feels like a long-lost Windir track.

Nocturnal Will proves that Dödsrit will not be encountering dead ends anytime soon, with a relatively minor tweak in their sound yielding tremendous results. The crustier sound will always exist on their first three albums, but as someone who loves melodic black metal done right (a definition of which I’m still trying to figure out for myself), this is exactly what I want to hear from the band. The glorious fire of ages past burns bright on this day.

— Colin

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Nocturnal Will is available March 22 through Wolves of Hades. For more information on Dödsrit check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.