#Udånde 🇸🇰 Slow Death – A Celebration of Self-Hatred
Band: Udånde
Title: Slow Death – A Celebration of Self-Hatred
Label: Vendetta Records
Release date: 02 December 2022
Country: Slovakia
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording
One thing is for sure: the year still has not ended, and there are some real gems out there for you, avid Metal listeners. Like this album by Udånde, their second full-length since in February 2021 this one-man project surprised the Atmospheric Black Metal scene with their debut “Life of a Purist”. I had the pleasure of reviewing that album, in fact it was my very first review in Blessed Altar Zine and I was really glad to find it among all the promos, ‘cause it was resonating in my ears for weeks. Well… Rasmus Ejlersen has done it again, giving it all with his huge creativity and also putting a lot of personal stuff in this album.
As a result, this is an overwhelming journey through emotions, if you are in the right mood to catch the sense of suffering and grief that’s present in “Slow Death -…”. I got it from the first listen, and then when I read the description in their Bandcamp site I understood. There, Rasmus states: “This album is a timeline (2009 – 2022) of private, profound experiences with anxiety attacks, depression and anti-depressant medication. Each song depicts specific time periods of my existence from which were significant for my previous internal struggles.” I think this is a very brave confession, and it shows how Metal can act as a healing and cathartic therapy.
A very predominant thing in this album is the bleak guitar tone; icy, sharp, being mercilessly played be it with tremolo riffs or with clean melodies, this instrument stands out and takes control, along with the incessant and merciless beating of drums. There’s almost never a quiet moment. This is needed in order to feel all that suffering, the internal struggles that the musician wanted to put into his music. And he did it, he really did it. Vocally, Rasmus shows a more dark, aggressive and fierce kind of deep growls than in his previous album, intensifying the sense of coldness and desolation that embraces you like death’s grip since the first minute.
A song that stands out for its high level of devastation is “Who got diagnosed years later”, where hypnotic guitars melt with the relentless and unstoppable force unleashed by drums, and it’s like a big razzle ending in your head spinning and still wanting for more. This is the way I love Black Metal being atmospheric; when I hardly can breathe and, at the same time, I need to choke in every note, feeling the music like my external and protective skin from all the world in general. ‘Cause there’s no place where I feel more safe than being intoxicated by Black Metal.
There are 2 other tracks that you can listen to if you go to Udånde’s Bandcamp site or Spotify, and also physically on the second vinyl of the limited edition. They are drone/noise long tracks (about 20 minutes each of them), if you like this stuff then go for it too!
Knowing that music is a very personal thing, and everyone experiences an album in a different way, my opinion about “Slow Death – …” is that it is so damn sincere and strong that it almost hurts. And I can be listening to it again and again, not being tired of it at all. It’s a 9/10 for me Sílvia
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9/10 Epic Storm
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