Album Review: Kärv – What the Dunes Have Hidden
New full-length to be released June 21 on SneeuwStorm Produkties
Today I have the great privilege of reviewing the debut full-length from Swedish black metal act, Kärv, entitled What the Dunes Have Hidden. I’m breaking new ground here. This is my first solicited review here at TPD, and I’m truly honored to be able to bring it to you well in advance of the June release date. But, even though I’ve been afforded this opportunity by the artist himself, I am bound by conscience to offer an honest assessment of the recording. That’s what I have set out to do. With that being said, I can guarantee, veritably, that this album will be in the top tier of my AOTY list for 2024. Now, here’s my feeble attempt at doing it justice with a long-form (p)review.
Note that this isn’t my first time reviewing Kärv. I did a short writeup on last year’s split EP with Duister Maanlicht back in early January. So, please be sure to go back and check that out if you haven’t already. I assume this is what put me on Kärv’s radar.
Kärv is the one-man metal project of the enigmatic Grìshâ. The style is clean, yet raw, and takes the form of melodic black metal that, while thoroughgoingly atmospheric, is infused with shoegaze and hints of crust punk, as well. Even if these descriptors don’t appeal to you, I encourage you to give the album a chance.
The album begins with “Into the Wilderness.” The ominous intro gives way to a riff that soars o’er top of driving blast beats. Aqueous bass flows like a stream into a foreboding place. Visceral vocals carry a lyrical message equally portentous. The open stanza sets the scene:
Borne by wolves into the wilderness of Zoar
Fed the wording by a murder of crows
Bury me deep, lest these bones pile up the sins to heaven,
Curled up warm in the pyramidic ossuary
If a pyramid of bones doesn’t get the blood pumping, I don’t know what will. So, what have the dunes hidden? I’ll leave this preview free of spoilers, as you will want to discover that for yourself. The musical changes in the song seem to traverse a barren, desert landscape as the entrancing guitar tones and subtle leads invoke a stuporous daze. Will you be enabled to endure the physical and spiritual torment of the enemy? Will you harken the warning of the Lamb of God?
Off to an epic start, we move next to “Grave and Sea,” in which a wholly different enemy is placed before us. It is an enemy that levels the playing field for all of humanity. The tempo is slowed for this song. The melodious music in the treble clef is layered and almost symphonic at moments, cryptically conveying some sense of hope, even as the lyrical theme is chilling and desolate, and the rhythm section imports an appropriate heaviness. The lyrics are striking and do not bury the lede: “For cold is the hand of Death, companion and brother of all.” Allusions to Greek and Egyptian mythology add depth to this illustrative communiqué.
Track three, “In the Earthen Womb,” re-ups the pace early. The banshee-like shrieking of the vocals relay the contrast between two inevitable fates, one of glory, the other of utter hopelessness. In the midst of this comes some absolutely triumphant guitar tracking and conspicuously resounding bass that, together, make this my favorite song on the album. Simply put, it rocks. The discrepancy between the harried cadence of the drums and the patiently perseverant ringing of the strings draws out the aforementioned contrast beautifully. At last, the forked path is laid bare: “The harrow hath thee drawn, to disintegration on the threshing floor, spread with the wheat and the chaff along the paved roads.”
“Battle Chant” is a musical architecture of aggression par excellence. It is introduced with a recitation of Revelation 12:7–9. This brings context to the entire album, and, in reality, to the whole of redemptive history. The lyrics are equally apocalyptic, incorporating themes from the OT prophecy of Daniel, in addition to John’s Revelation. I can hardly speak of the music in this track, as furious as it is, due to its lyrical triumphalism. Behold, this stanza!
In empyreal majesty, the Temple incarnate triumphant
In the way of Melchizedek, the Sword double-edged
Lo, as He rides, over mountains blazing in turmoil
He shatters your spires, cathedrals, and minarets
I know I said no spoilers earlier. But, come on, man. This album is threading a biblical thread. So, if you have eyes to see and ears to hear (spiritually speaking), you should know this. The next stanza’s conclusion makes me want to run through a demonic shield wall: “and justice for Abel!” …and justice for all the martyred saints! As if I wasn’t already stoked for the Parousia, I am now all the more eager for it. Maranatha!
“Consecration” is a lovely a capella interlude sung harmoniously in cavernous grandeur. The short ode closes with the lines “Serve with a single heart and eye, And to Thy glory live or die.” This, indeed, reflects upon man’s chief end (see WSC Q. 1).
Then we are led into “Mother Harlot, Mother Whore,” in which the allusions to Revelation and to pagan gods of Egypt continue, now with added Ancient Near Eastern characters. The rhythms alternate between a head-bobber rate of speed and lightning fast blast beats. Crafty guitar overlays anchoring bass, while the drums skillfully press the boundaries at times, nearly coming untethered from the musical backdrop, but never fully derailing. The vocal screeches compliment the abominable subject being portrayed, importing the listener up the Babylonian ziggurat to gaze upon the debauchery below, then vaulting above the scene to see it all “razed to the ground” at the kingdom’s eschatological demise.
The penultimate offering, “Dissolution of the Flesh,” begins with somber clean guitar that is soon interrupted by a frenetic outburst of prayerful grief. As the voice cries out to the “Bane of the wicked one,” there is confidence, hope, and certainty. That One will “hook the Leviathan” and subdue it. Allusion is made to Ezekiel 36:22–38, which should, rightly, put the listener in mind of the next chapter of that book, the valley of dry bones, and the spiritual significance thereof. The lyrics stir up a sense of whole-life worshipfulness, concluding with the declaration, “I give unto Thee all I am,” in the vein of the Apostle Paul’s appeal in Rom. 12:1 (ESV) for us to present our “bodies as a living sacrifice.” Again, here as in so much of the album, as excellent as the music is, the words outshine everything else.
The final track, “Pillars of Salt,” was included in last year’s split EP with Duister Maanlicht (mentioned above), and fits well within the context of the rest of this album as its conclusion. The setting of this track returns us to the land of the first track, and, thematically, points back in time to Genesis 19. Its warning is as fresh as ever, far as the curse is found: “Do not turn thy head.” So, as the story fades, “Like ruins, the Sodom of old, let it fade to a tale untold.”
Tracklist
1. Into the Wilderness (5:14)
2. Grave and Sea (3:43)
3. In the Earthen Womb (4:51)
4. Battle Chant (5:57)
5. Consecration (0:57)
6. Mother Harlot, Mother Whore (4:00)
7. Dissolution of the Flesh (4:00)
8. Pillars of Salt (6:56)
Total runtime: 35:38
What the Dunes Have Hidden will be released Friday, June 21, 2024 on the Dutch SneeuwStorm Produkties label.
Order the digital version directly from Kärv’s Bandcamp. Physical copies can be ordered on the SneeuwStorm Produkties Bandcamp.
Be sure to follow Kärv on Instagram and Facebook.
Be sure to follow SneeuwStorm Produkties on Instagram and Facebook.
Official Store (SneeuwStorm Produkties)