The return of the Khold members’ original band Tulus last year, their comeback album Biography Obscene following much the same downtuned Black Metal style but with the intriguing addition of various stringed instruments, gave rise to a fair amount of speculation amongst the cult band’s fans. What would happen to Khold now? Would they be left out in the Khold? Well, the band’s fifth album is here, and whilst there’s little change in style from the Doom-ridden Black-Metal-with-a-bit-of-Roll of before, the album as a whole is a huge step forwards for the band.

For a start, this is jammed full of the hypnotic and catchy anthems that have only popped up here and there on previous albums – what puts most people off the band is that with past releases, you’ve had to give more of yourself than you got in return. Well, that’s changed – each catchy blast here will draw you in and get your head banging, and the underlying freezing Khold atmosphere soon envelopes. Khold are capable of doing more with one slow riff than most Black Metal bands can with minutes of blastbeating, and the subterranean crawl through filth that any random few minutes of Hundre År Gammal implies can be quite chilling if you experience it alone in a dark room. Songs weave in and out of each other, repeating riffs without getting boring; the first three tracks are more like one long song than three separate tracks. And although the songs all follow the same style, there’s enough difference between them to keep you listening.

Despite the label, it’s not all crawl- or mid-paced; Mester Og Trell breaks into blastbeats and is the better for it, the band’s roots in True Norwegian Black Metal clear. Like Satyricon and Darkthrone, the Rock N’Roll elements serve to confuse the superficial onlookers and mask the darkness at the heart of the band’s music. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that cuts like Trolos will make you dance around the room with delight, and if Khold don’t get bigger as a result of excellent albums like this, then the fault lies with the listeners, not the band. One of the most original voices in the scene, Hundre År Gammal is the band’s best album yet, well worth your time if you came across the band before and gave them the Khold shoulder, and newcomers should stop reading and listen now! Who knows, a bit of Punk in there and Khold could take Darkthrone’s current shaky perch as kings of kickass Black Metal. For the meantime, this band guarantee a good time if you’re feeling a little Khold...