Bak og forbi...

I first found out about this largely unknown Norwegian act when I was looking through an upcoming compilation of bands on the website of Chinese label Pest Productions. All of these bands were playing a heavily Neige-inspired (or most often, completely ripped off) blend of black metal and shoegaze or post-punk. However, credited just below as being the ‘new act of depressive black metal from Norway/Germany’ were Hinsidig, an unheard of band mixing black metal with folk influences and clean vocals as well as featuring a member of Nyktalgia (and the best member of Nyktalgia, at that). My interest was naturally piqued.

‘Bak og Forbi…’, Hinsidig’s first demo, is an astonishing release. The sound is some kind of an amalgamation of early Ulver, Nyktalgia and Wolves in the Throne Room but is nonetheless very distinctive and quite original. Well, apart from the first track, ‘Euforisk Depresjon’, which despite being a fantastic opening takes quite liberal influences from Wolves in the Throne Room’s ‘Dea Artio’. But just ignore that, because after this, it’s all smooth sailing, especially once you get to the undeniable centrepiece of the album; the almost-10 minute masterpiece ‘Bak Livets Forheng’. The composition and song writing found on this song – and the demo as a whole – is astounding for such a young band; managing to be melancholic, aggressive, energetic and undeniably catchy with a sound that is raw but not unlistenable without ever sounding forced or contrived. The clean vocals here are a revelation in the depth they add to the music, giving the track a tangibly sombre feeling despite the often upbeat riffing and extremely lively drumming provided by Winterheart. This is the kind of song that well-established and long-running black metal bands would be proud to produce, which speaks volumes for the musical maturity and talent of Hinsidig’s main-man, Fimbul.

To call Hinsidig’s music depressive black metal probably wouldn’t be quite accurate. Sure, ‘Livets Sløs’ is quite a devastating song and Fimbul’s vocal performance at the end could convince even one of those annoying, infectiously happy chicks you see at parties to slit her own throat, but apart from that...Yes, their style is definitely a melancholic one, but I also find quite a lot of this material to have an uplifting quality to it. Bipolar metal. However, nothing on this demo feels out of place or poorly constructed, quite the opposite, in fact. The guitars are heavily layered, often using multiple riffs to create a wall of sound of both conflicting and coalesced emotions. The riffs flow between tremolo picked aggression, hair-raising leads and gloomy single-picked arpeggios, with the occasional appearance of very delicate and almost unnoticeable keys. The vocals are very well executed, albeit fairly standard for this type of metal. They sway between standard black metal rasps and the occasional moment where Fimbul will unleash an outpouring of emotion more in line with the Varg-school of screaming. Also, Fimbul’s extremely emotive but unfortunately all too occasional clean vocals also make an appearance, something which I found completely refreshing and something which again gave the EP a very distinctive style. The drumming – as you would expect from someone of Winterheart’s ability – is mind-blowing. Some may find his drum playing to be distracting, like an annoying ADD kid jumping up and down at the back of a family photo, but his style is classy and creative like few other black metal drummers, throwing surprise fills around in the middle of fairly orthodox drum beats and polyrhythms and making full use of his entire kit as well as a wide range of cymbals. He manages to mix traditional black metal drumming with a creative flair that is almost unmatched to my mind. As with his playing in Nyktalgia, his use of his trusty ride is an utter standout here and gives the demo an extra element of professionalism and skill that is quite unheard of in black metal demos.

For such a young band, this demo gives me the feeling that in a few years Hinsidig could very well be one of the more popular bands in the black metal spectrum. On ‘Bak og Forbi...’, they display a sense of musicianship and compositional maturity that is on par with much more senior bands and for a first demo the music presented here really is quite astounding. Now if they’ll just finish recording their full-length I’ll be a very happy man.