Vår Avgrund, the new album by the Gothenburg-based sludge/doom quintet Walk Through Fire, is not meant to be a joyous experience. Its very name, which translates to “Our Abyss“, foreshadows a 75-minute trip that’s intended to be heard straight through as an integrated piece of music, one designed to drag listeners ever-deeper into sensations of existential dread and misery, despair and anguish.

But while the album’s themes mostly circle around “the inevitability of tragedy and suffering in life – both as individuals, and as a collective”, this does not mean the music itself is relentlessly gloom-shrouded and oppressive, not something to be avoided like the sight of mass graves or a visit to the morgue.  As undeniably dark as the music is, it is also fascinating, and quite often inescapably mesmerizing. In part, that is because Walk Through Fire are open to experimentation — indeed eager for it. And the song we’re presenting today is a prime example of that. Continue reading »