There couldn’t be a more Kvaen song than album opener and leadoff single “The Formless Fire,” with its highly melodic tremolo riffing and oscillation between mid-paced stomp and careening blast. As usual, Björnfot manages to put onto record the kind of verve and urgency more easily conjured in live settings, both instrumentally and with his uncommonly legible black rasp vocals. His Dissection-inspired melodic black metal is the core sound of The Formless Fire, but as usual, there are other genres that creep into the mix. Previous album The Great Below often leaned into traditional heavy metal and Viking era Bathory, and while that’s been dialed back a bit here, it still emerges across the final three tracks, starting with the epic “De dödas sång.” The drumming on The Formless Fire is punchier than on past outings, making for Björnfot’s heaviest album to date. When things get chuggy on front-half cuts “Traverse the Nether” and “The Ancient Gods,” the sound even strays into blackened death metal territory. The latter especially sounds more than a little like fellow Swedes Amon Amarth, which makes sense since their former drummer Fredrik Andersson pulls kit duty here.
Kvaen is a band built for playlists, and there are plenty of bangers ready for plucking on The Formless Fire. As discussed, the title track is straight down the middle of their sound and well representative of their considerable strengths. That said, the real showstopper here is “Basilisk,” an absolutely rabid black metal barn burner that stands with the best songs from The Great Below and The Funeral Pyre. In fact, Björnfot screaming the name of the legendary monstrous serpent is up there with “Fire, Fucking Fire!” as the most inspired vocal performances in his catalogue. There’s nothing quite as stately as “Ensamvarg” on The Formless Fire, but “De dödas sång” comes close with its acoustic intro/outro, heroic guitar solo, and battle-march tempo. Brooding cut “The Perpetual Darkness” is pure Norse melodic black metal, equal parts melancholic and invigorating.
The slightly blackened death-leaning “Traverse the Nether” and “The Ancient Gods” aren’t bad songs, but they come off as a little outside Björnfot’s comfort zone and are a step down from the rest of The Formless Fire. That said, they’re much better than the one dud, maybe the first bad song Kvaen have ever released, “Tornets sång.” Stylistically it veers sharply away from the rest of the album into a sort of stomping trad/death metal that never gets out of second gear. It would be jarring no matter where it appeared in the track order, but the formal left turn could be forgiven if it was a good song. As it is, it earns a term Kvaen have always managed to avoid despite peddling in well-worn styles: generic. Thankfully, the skip button is right there waiting to take me to the album’s killer B side.
Kvaen are too good a band to be burdened with the word “dependable,” which sounds like damning with faint praise, but as they prove with The Formless Fire just how consistent they are, the shoe fits. Maybe after one or two more records in the same vein, my enthusiasm will start to wane, but it’s hard to imagine Björnfot will ever forget how to write a killer song. For now, I’m just going to enjoy eating the shit out of this chili cheese dip.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: kvaenblacklion.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/officialkvaen
Releases Worldwide: June 21st, 2024
