Fornetes Folm / His Crown Grows from His Skull

Úlfarr “Fornetes Folm / His Crown Grows From His Skull” 2024

Úlfarr
“Fornetes Folm” / “His Crown Grows From His Skull”

Origin: Cumbria, England 󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Genre: Cumbrian Black Metal

Label: Purity Through Fire

In veneration of black metal’s eternal flame, let us delve into another volume of frigid silver moon and of autumnal decay. Úlfarr - Cumbrian overlords of the black craft have returned, and upon the culmination of cursed year’s end, on the holiest of days, Úlfarr will turn up from hallowed soil necrotic abominations to be set loose upon divine flesh. On December 25, “Fornetes Folm / His Crown Grows From His Skull” will be released via the nefarious Purity Through Fire. This will mark the band’s second full-length LP release with a choice nug at the end; a branding statement upon a thriving UKBM scene.

For the lowly and for the wretched - an aspirational concord that melodiously harkens back to the early days of melodic black metal legend, all the while as it calls for recognition to the hordes of eras present - simple black metal done much in the way of Satanic Warmaster’s latest “Exultation of Cruelty” LP, but captivating in ways that SW failed to realize this time around. And the great differentiator here lies within the spectrum of recording quality. While “Exultation of Cruelty” is done the ancient way, “Fornetes Folm” is cast from out of the shadows of baser techniques and into the light of what is gloriously crisp and what is dynamically rendered. Játvarðr’s throaty gutturals and ritualistic chants during “Algol (As Malice Shone Upon Northward Doors)” bring to mind Pest era Gorgoroth, and the music hits those familiar sweet spots as well: blast-driven, brut and yet contemplative, as one would lament the inevitability of death.

Shades of “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” era Mayhem surface through a tangled-with-precision web of inertia-inducing tremolo riffs and intrepid blast-beats during “Moonskin” before Sargeist-redolent melodious passages ensue. A kaleidoscope of varying influences and a myriad of explorative styles packaged so modestly within this work of classic yet triumphantly dynamic black metal. I’d have guessed Finland had I gone into this unknowingly - heavy on those aforementioned Satanic Warmaster and Sargeist vibes.

Before the Shadow Council now, awaiting grim fate to the sound of grimy black & roll as “The Cold Council of Old Shadow” renders ominous connotations of Occult terror; conductive through rituals most vile. And evil runs with ramped force through the entirety of this one - chanting down the walls of righteousness - destructive spells cast under torchlight during this eve of existential lament. What a simple delight: just-right tonality, simple yet dynamic and wicked to its festering core. “Fornetes Folm” is most certainly a resounding homage to the second wave of black metal; a less brutal and more melodic version of “Pentagram” Gorgoroth paired with some Goats of Doom level grime and a little Suomi -style melody. When we as black metal people finally come to that epiphany; the understanding of what black metal is supposed to sound like, we understand that it is supposed to sound like this.

Sinful! From suicide to fornication and everything in between, and nothing is sacred… Black metal to whip into a froth nights of hatred-induced lust and yearning for fleshly things. Rituals and spells of the most ghastly variety to awaken you into a state of unbridled depravity. Debauched and fueled by its own moderately-filtered rawness, “Fornetes Folm” is a black metal album for the purist who understands the worth of BM in its base form, but also for those of a slightly higher tier of BM connoisseurism who enjoy records like “Strength & Honour” (SW) and “Satanic Black Devotion” (Sargeist).

Part two of this recording features Úlfarr’s EP, “His Crown Grows From His Skull”, as a nice little nightcap. Following a medieval intro, the Great Horned One rises from the pits to “Ānforlætan” - a racing excursion through unforgiving gauntlets: deep blasts, vortex-inducing riffs and unforeseeable changes in tempo. Fucking chaos! Highly aggressive when compared to “Fornetes Folm” and Behexen-level wicked is “His Crown Grows From His Skull”. Stripped down even further to the point of staggering over the line that separates the rare from the medium; an EP for ones who welcome in evil with open arms and who were actually alive during the second wave of BM. Another fine example of how black metal was made to sound.

LP: 8/10
EP: 8/10

Experience “Moonskin” from “Fornetes Folm / His Crown Grows From His Skull” by Úlfarr right here as presented by Purity Through Fire:

https://youtu.be/qjENOMruPdw?si=qo9PJGTBWVCyTP8F

~Jeger