For the last little while now, I’ve been steeped in the very greatness of the Greek underground and all of the material that it has to offer with its level of intensity still nigh on magnificent to lose yourself in. It was only a matter of time before I found myself before one of the quintessential Greek acts, Dødsferd, to remind myself what exactly this scene is truly capable of. It’s been two years since the act put out one of the most striking creations of black metal that I’ve heard in my time, and I’ve been wondering when we would witness its return. I knew it was only a matter of time before it would occur, but I was never once expecting something like this to be born out of the depths of darkness. Yet, such a result feels immensely fitting for all that Dødsferd has ever stood for.

Mild experimentation has been a constant throughout the run of Dødsferd with its themes and concepts familiar to the world of black metal, but I personally have yet to come across any other name in the genre that manages to put together a sound that comes close to what Dødsferd has long been achieving. But to see a severe right turn sonically and creatively by combining forces with the rising talent of m.Sarvok, what we’re treated to here on this special collaboration feels just as much its own independent beast as much as it is a spiritual brother to “Suicide and the Rest of Your Kind Will Follow II”. Filled with ambiance and a single acoustic guitar that is so simplistic in its nature yet immensely captivating for all that it is, this collaboration is as potent as it is sublime with both Dødsferd and Sarvok working in perfect unison to deliver a performance that definitely leans more into Sarvok’s ambient tendencies while the themes and striking vocal performance of Dødsferd allow the music to take on a completely different form effortlessly. The sort of creation that gets under your skin yet never once pushes you away as the very claws of such a concoction only sink deeper the further into the record you go, this is a bold new realm of Dødsferd whose potential and prowess already ripe for further excursions! Whether it’s through the dissonant, far off pluck of an acoustic guitar or the haunting lyrical content that carves through flesh like butter, I can only hope it won’t be too long before there is another asphyxiating late night session to become lost in.

Black metal and the worlds of ambiance have become tightly interwoven given what has gone down in the current digital age, but few outings are as successfully pulled off as what we’re given here in just five tracks. Both of the musicians involved in this collaboration didn’t need to impress or convince anyone of their capacities between each of their respective styles, but that didn’t stop them from coming together during the darkest hours of the night to deliver us a transcendent creation that holds nothing back and never once fails to put an iron grip on your very spirit.

LISTEN to “Asphyxiating Late Night Sessions: Collaboration with Sarvok” on Bandcamp here.

FOLLOW Dødsferd on Bandcamp here, and Dødsferd’s record label, Fucking Your Creation (FYC) Records, on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Sarvok on Facebook here.