Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2024
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Hypothermia > Rakbladsvalsen > Reviews
Hypothermia - Rakbladsvalsen

"And it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it" - 55%

Abscondescentia, November 1st, 2023

Sweden's Hypothermia represent the most excessive example of depressive/suicidal black metal based on torture like, slog paces, dreadful atmosphere and desolate, totally minimal arrangements. Essentially a solo project of guitarist Kim Carl Martin Carlsson, also founder of Kyla, Life Is Pain, Isolationist and the much more famous Lifelover, the guy recorded various demos with guesting drummers and possibly no bass, and most of them had very limited re-issues or were not released in CD format. The project didn't release much material during its timeline, just five full-lengths as of now, including three just in 2006-2007: after then, hiatuses and minor EPs/splits followed, and most of such production stopped in 2015, when Carlsson founded even more solo projects devoted to dark ambient and industrial (A Symphony to the Void, Consider Suicide, Ritualmord, Horns Emerging).

Little is known if Carlsson has ever had some struggle with depression, melancholy and suicidal ideation besides the imagery adopted and occasional posts on Instagram, but one thing is certain: the project's 2007 album, Rakbladsvalsen, is not exactly easy listening. The album is essentially a jam on a few riffs/grooves repeated over and over surpassing the hour duration: on the whole album there may be 5 riffs in total employed, especially because the final instrumental replicates the same ones of the opener in clean, non-distorted, quieter setting. With just guitar and drums, the four Del tracks are based on skeletal, very essential licks based on extended harmonies exploiting open-string full chording, which sounds a bit peculiar due to the D standard tuning.

The atmospheres evoked are slightly more reminiscent of Joy Division, Slint and Bauhaus than black metal in general: there's only occasional double-bass stomping, but the pacing remains medium-slow, very lazy-sounding due to partial out-of-sync recording performances and some recording mistakes left out in the mix. There are a few vocals consisting of hoarse, croak-y falsetto shrieking and lyrics about enjoying self-cutting, seeing blood flow through the skin and losing consciousness: some may find them repulsive, others claustrophobic, while others may even find them an ironic way to get some sleep instead of taking melatonin... just kidding.

The 34-minutes opener is enough to make all listeners running away disgusted long before its duration, since the mood, the melodies and the pacing absolutely never changes, apart of a single change halfway through that gives way to even more riff repetition. The other two tracks are similarly minimal and lazy-as-hell (track 2 even features imprecise alternate picking, while the third one is based on a single seventh-major arpeggio), but despite being shorter they don't encourage as well further listening, quite the contrary.

Here is the paradox: this is the worst album of all time that I listened quite frequently over the years. There are occasions when I absolutely need something very lengthy and noisy to cover up surrounding noise or after getting up by interrupted sleep in the early hours in the morning (I will keep more details myself, it's privacy), and I usually end up taking early Hypothermia releases or something similarly-minded. I can't absolutely see any other reason to listen to this stuff than doing something else around, else I wouldn't even get through the first 10 minutes. I still don't like this album and the moods it is supposed to evoke (and I'm not even a fan of Kim Carlsson himself, I prefer Trist for that matter), yet there are moments where I actually NEED stuff like this.

Razor Waltz - 95%

Killer_Clown, December 8th, 2011

Depressive and atmospheric, melancholic and beautiful, monotonous and slow, sharp and cold. All these epithets are about this superb album called "Rakbladsvalsen" by Hypothermia. You know, I have always been a big fan of such chilling music that carves your soul and your mind similar to a razor cutting your flesh. These breathtaking melodies are maybe a little bit repetitive during the songs but they don't make you bored or something like that. This staggering release captivates you from the first chords to the finale, and even the title song being kinda protracted won't compel you to turn off the music. Also, Hypothermia strikes with their original beautiful primitiveness. All of their releases are richly saturated by this primitive art. I mean, you'll never find some complex passages, riffs, or melodies, but that's the main fact why Hypothermia is so alluring to me. It really engages many people with its simple beauty.

"Rakbladsvalsen" starts with the lingering "Del I". It consists of two parts. The first part is the outset and the outcome of that track at the same time and the second part is the peculiar culmination in the middle of the song. The second song is kind of "optimistic", if I could say this word about the style presented by Hypothermia in their works, and you can certainly notice that "Del II" is much faster as opposed to the other stuff on "Rakbladsvalsen". The third song restores you to the depressive hedonistic mood by its negative and melancholy. The last track is a real masterpiece, a real triumph of this simple primitiveness I spoke of above. Hypothermia strikes again and again with this "winning trick". "Del IV" is uncomplicated acoustic strumming, but still bewitches the audience. Afterwards the album comes to its end, leaving your soul desolated and drained.

Summing this up, I must notify that it is only my opinion about this release. Probably somebody has other notions about Hypothermia, 'cause everything depends on personal tastes and preferences. Yes, I agree that "Rakbladsvalsen" is not as great as albums issued by the giants of depressive black metal like Nachtmystium, Leviathan, Shining, or Armagedda, but such music still rages wild in my heart while I am listening to it.

Bleak is just the beginning. - 91%

wagontrain, July 7th, 2007

As if you needed even more evidence to realize that I have a huge fucking boner for Swedish DSBM, here it is. Sure enough, my second favorite album of the year so far is another sorrowful mother fucker from Sweden, writing some soul rottingly dark music.

Where Nae'blis is twisted, sad, and just flat insane, Hypothermia is BLEAK. The name really fits here, because Hypothermia is not just cold, it is deathly cold. Intense imagery goes along with this music and it involves long periods of misery in uncomfortable places. I will go more into depth on that later, but before you read on you should know, this is some hope destroying music if there ever was any.

The style of black metal Hypothermia plays almost strikes me as drone, minus the sludge. The key here is that it is not boring, as drone is to me, yet Rakbladsvalsen takes each riff and repeats it into oblivion. You may not see how this could possibly be a good thing, but trust me, it definitely is. The hypnotic factor of this music is no small thing. If you sit down and listen to the droning, harmonically flat riffs, it is almost impossible to not get drawn into a miserable trance, and I'm not trying to be cliche when I say that it conjures images of dying of starvation in an endless desert, or freezing to death on the slopes of a vast snowy mountain.

The guitars exercise very little variety because it is not needed. They have a lazy distorted sound, almost indifferent sounding, like it doesn't matter if you notice the treble or the bass, the pitch or the timbre. Many of the riffs also hover on the edge of melody, but any thoughts of "happy music" are dispelled by the utterly bleak and tortured screams of Kim Carlsson. One of my favorite vocalists in metal, I don't feel like I need to elaborate on him. Simply put, his screams are heart-shattering. I consider myself quite the drum critic, mostly because I hate most drumming performances on albums. Hypothermia has the type of drums I would normally hate, that is, they are very normal, lots of snares and cymbals and all that boring crap we have been hearing for 50 years. However, they also have a kind of dead or lazy feel, like it doesn't matter if you hear them or not. Because of this, you forget they are there, which makes it that much easier for them to hypnotize you. And they do. I am somewhat baffled myself at how that works, because the drumming really does suck, but it fucking works. What to say? Who knows.

The songwriting. Obviously I am a sucker for the epic. I can only think of one 30+ minute track (not including other Hypothermia tracks!) which is as entertaining as "Rakbladsvalsen Part I" and it isn't in this review. Entertaining probably isn't the right word, mesmerising is better, but regardless my attention does not waver over the entire 34:25 of the first track. That's not to say there is a lot going on necessarily, but believe me folks this song gets the fucking job done, as you will come out of listening to it feeling like part of your life just got drained away. The remaining of the 4 songs are a sort of post-composition to the first track, each more or less highlighting a certain depressing aspect of the main theme.

I'm not 100% full of good things to say about this nasty fucking album. There is one specific thing I find myself wanting, and that is a vocal performance similar to that of Kim Carlsson on "Svartage Passager" from the album Kold. Don't get me wrong, the vocals are great, but a little bit too sparse for my liking. Kim is such a wicked screamer he should do it more often.

DSBM does not get much better than this. Take it or leave it. You'll be much happier if you leave it, that's a promise.