3 out of 5

Label: Nordvis Producktion

Produced by: ?

I have the original version of the Hydra Head label for expanding my music horizons, stretching to embrace even some grind and death / black metal – subgenres absolutely inaccessible to me before. While I can’t claim to have swum too far from the label’s offerings in those waters, still: I’m glad I’ve had some examples that have shown me the musicality in what can initially just sound like noise, to the uninured.

Bergraven was an oddball international act on the label’s docket, and their take on black metal by way of grunge really took me for a ride. But: as so often happens once we’ve gotten our beak wet – and I’d restate, I’m not even claiming to have the wettest of beaks here – when you return to that initial springboard band / movie / book / whatever, it can be experienced much differently as your tastes have inevitably developed. So at some point Bergraven’s first two albums started sounding much less revolutionary to me; followup project Stilla (sharing most band members) was a mixed bag of linearity and, frankly, some pretentiousness, doing genre-mixing just for the sake of it, at least how my ears were hearing it. …And then Stilla’s 2018 release, Synviljor, dove hard back into black metal, but had the aspirational underpinnings of Bergraven, and gave me the thrill I’d experienced initially with that band. So: after a decade pause, knowing that the group was reconfiguring / reconvening for another Bergraven album was legitimately exciting!

Det framlidna minnet is a good album. All of these related releases have been. But: if Synviljor focused on the heavier stuff, Det framlidna minnet became the place for all the pretentious stuff: horns; oddball stops and starts; climax-baiting song construction. It’s the type of metal listen you sort of appreciate indirectly, noting its elevation above it genre; nodding approvingly at how precise Pär Stille’s vocal delivery is – growls with clearly delivered lines – and at how dialed in the production is, allowing riffs to hit hard without overwhelming, and maintaining a glisten of reverb.

As a “return,” the group hasn’t lost a step: despite my tying this to Stilla, they are different acts, with Bergraven always maintaining a major rock / post-rock influence, and that difference remains. But as a decade has passed, so has that influence, going forward from 90s grunge to 00s art-rock, giving the sound an apropos concept album vibe.

I’m listening to the preceding disc, Till Makabert Väsen, as I write this, and it’s a mighty comparison, sounding absolutely unleashed and massive versus its eventual followup. All to say: Det framlidna minnet is maybe a better first Bergraven listen, giving you that Wow factor I got back in the day, and then released from expectations when set against what came before. Even with that, though, it’s not an album I feel like you rock out to, but rather think about rocking out to, and imagine that it would be a good time.