Kvaen: The Formless Fires (Dark Midnight Blue Marbled Vinyl) LP

Kvaen: The Formless Fires

There have been many great extreme metal bands from Sweden, but only one from Kalix. In this remote, beautiful place near the Finnish border, on the northernmost shore of the Baltic Sea, lives Jacob Björnfot, the creative mind behind Kvaen (named after the people who populated the area in Viking times).

Kvaen's third album, "The Formless Fires", is a lush but bitingly intense exploration of beauty and violence, a melodic black metal masterpiece that exudes an inspiring sense of place. Even more so than on 2020's folky, speed metal-infused debut 'The Funeral Pyre' or 2022's captivating, expansive follow-up 'The Great Below', the vast pine forests and icy lakes are powerfully evoked in the elemental, bleak riffs, chilling melodies and windswept solos that run through these eight mighty, meaty songs.

As usual, Jacob wrote and recorded everything on "The Formless Fires" himself (with the exception of the drums, which are loudly hammered by ex-Amon Amarth skin punisher Frederik Andersson). However, there is now a stable live line-up ready to take Jacob's unique vision to the world: "Kristian and Rasmus are really fantastic at learning new songs, and they're straightforward guys," Jacob enthuses, appreciating the band members he has entrusted with the care of his musical baby. "Per has a name in the Swedish underground and his image fits the band like a glove. Fredrik has tons of knowledge from his past with bands like Amon Amarth and is a killer drummer, so you can say that we are on Damnation's highway! Our goal is to be a busy band in terms of touring. We have some festivals coming up across Europe and two tours coming up by the end of 2024, and it looks like next year is going to be busy too. Into Certain Death!"

Tracklist:
1 Seite A: The Formless Fires
2 Traverse the Nether
3 Tornets Sång
4 The Ancient Gods 
5 Seite B: Basilisk
6 De Dödas Sång 
7 The Perpetual Darkness 
 8 The Wings of Death

Label: Metal Blade Records 
Released: 2024