The human heart is a place that can do many things to a single person. It can make you feel an absolute array of emotions that can influence your actions into every aspect of life. Losing a dear friend and imprisonment can easily create a feeling of self-loathing that can permeate a person’s actions every single day of their life from there. Such feelings can be the makings of a tremendous album that as sorrowful as it is amazingly well done. Ofdrykkja has done just that with their upcoming album, and the music couldn’t be any more self-hating.

People tend to not enjoy being depressed nor do they tend to enjoy hating themselves given how it just doesn’t feel good, and we all know someone who’s unfortunately afflicted by such a plague. Musicians are wont to be put into such a group, and many times that leads to albums that can range from poignant to practically suicidal. Granted, Ofdrykkja is far from the latter, but their upcoming record of “Irrfärd” is extremely far from a happy-go-lucky attitude. Taking the listener through all sorts of self-hating hymns and depressive themes, “Irrfärd” makes up for bringing your mood down with music that’s not only incredibly befitting of the overall mood but also something that’s an extremely amazing thing to hear! Ofdrykkja takes the shrill yet odd beauty that black metal can invoke, but it also takes the solitary elements that rock has been known to elicit, and the two opposites come together perfectly well to create a unique sound with “Irrfärd” that’s captivating, evocative, and simply fucking stunning from a musical perspective. Many bands have tried to create music with a style like this for sure, but none have hit the mark as well as Ofdrykkja and this fucking masterful album that proves these guys know exactly what they’re doing. That being said, once you decide to delve into the lyrics then you’ll fall into an evergrowing black hole of self-loathing that’ll never seem to end, and “Irrfärd” is the catalyst of that descent.

Depressive rock is something that I’m not a stranger to, but pairing it with black metal has lead to a combination that simply must be heard. Ofdrykkja had my initial doubts but as soon as I hit play I knew that this record was going to be something special, and the ensuing venture that “Irrfärd” provides is one that the listener won’t soon forget simply because of how splendid it is. This band is destined to garner a loyal cult following, and it’s not hard to see why.

“Irrfärd” releases on November 25th via Avantgarde Music! 

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Irrfärd” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ofdrykkja on Facebook here.