Tag Archives: black metal

Friday Morning Metal – Tryglav – The Ritual

Oooh Croatian black metal. This time it’s The Ritual by Tryglav, a one-man band that started in 2018. Boris Behara is the driver of Tryglav, and he has other singles with names like I’m Gonna Fvkk Your Mom. Encyclopaedia Metallum seems to believe that, though he’s from Croatia, the band formed in Italy, and is therefore Italian black metal, instead of Croatian. That seems like splitting hairs. But also I get grumpy when Death Cab for Cutie claim to have formed in Seattle and not Bellingham. Maybe I should talk to somebody about that. It’s a weird thing to get hung up about.

The song kicks off with some orchestral bits that sound fun and foreboding, like the Phantom of the Opera is almost here, in your mind. A string crescendo transitions into the song, which is heavily guitar-forward and rad. The melody is catchy, and chock full of arpeggios. I think those are arpeggios. Because it’s black metal, the vocals are high and growly. I much prefer clean vocals, but I guess that turns the song into a different genre. The solo at the midpoint is pretty straightforward, if it is a solo. Feel like when guy makes a whole song all of it could be a solo, right?

Since it’s a solo project, the video is just this dude shredding next to some torches. They did a lot of close ups and slow mo shots of the fire, but really it’s just him standing in a field playing guitar. The video does have some scan lines from time to time and like digital artifacting, I bet it’s there to be creepy. While I’m not the biggest black metal fan, the guitar work is great, and it’s cool to see Croatian metal out there. So go out there, Try some glav.

Friday Morning Metal – Shylmagoghnar – The Sea

Here we go! Coming at you with a band that sounds like one of Skwisgar’s former groups, it’s Shylmagoghnar’s The Sea. Apparently the band started as two dudes, and now it’s maybe just one guy, Nimblkorg. It’s gotta be tough to play all those instruments at the same time, but he seems to do a pretty solid job of it. In one whole song he’s covering guitars, bass, drums, synthesizers, piano, flute, violin, and vocals!

The song starts with a creepy poem about the sea, before some plinky plunky grandspas guitar work coupled with violins. The vocals are primarily whispers, which is kind of fun and spooky. About halfway through there’s a breakdown and some bigass guitar work, as if it’s another movement within the song. The guitar solo is pretty soaring, and feels like something Skwisgar would use in a song about the ocean. But maybe not Go Into the Ocean. A different ocean song. There’s also some good piano work that gives it more of an epic/operatic metal vibe than melodic black metal. At 8 minutes, the track does feel a little long, but there are enough changes that it’s not too bad. Maybe it could be two four minute songs, but who am I to judge. I can’t play ANY instrument, let alone eight.

The video itself makes the band look like they’re underwater, while it cuts to clips of fish and waves and stuff. They’re really leaning on the title with that. There’s some other stuff, like candles doing their thing, but primarily it’s a lot of ocean. Big splashy cymbals are paired with images of waves crashing, and while that seems a little on the nose, it’s pretty cool. But for a song called the Sea, having a lot of ocean references is pretty great.