Year: 2020
Time: 45:33
Label: Vendetta Records
Danish AFSKY is the solo project by Ole Pedersen Luk, singer and guitarist of the Danish Black Metallers SOLBRUD. This year’s “Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død “(which translates to ”often I dream myself dead”) is their second full length album, which is released two years after their nice debut “Sorg” and five years after their self-titled EP. AFSKY’s musical style can be described as atmospheric/melancholic traditional Black Metal, enriched with some folk elements, influenced mainly by the second wave of Black Metal including emotional-depressive parts.
First, we will start our review by mentioning the album’s cover which is a masterpiece. The cover is a painting made in 1889 by H.A.Bredekilde, named “Udslidt”, which means “worn out”. AFSKY did not choose this painting by luck, as it is ideally combined with their album’s concept. All songs are based on a number of old Danish poems and texts by artists such as H.C. Andersen, Jeppe Aakjær, και Emil Aarestrup. All these poems fit well with several of the selected texts for the record, which talk precisely about the little man who must work until he dies, about the higher classes in society and others about loss or dying.
AFKSY in “Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død” sounds more passionate and more aggressive, in a particularly melodic way, than did in “Sorg”. There are parts when Black Metal riffs are overflowing with anger as a form of denunciation for human exploitation. To end up in a more atmospheric and melancholic path that bleeds your soul with the musical expression of the pain of loss, which is a cleansing of the human soul. Everything is perfectly well organized, as the rhythms and guitar melodies are drawing through well-written Black Metal compositions that catch the listener with their black atmosphere.
This release has very emotional standards that require careful hearings to immerse yourself in its musical magic. Ole Pedersen Luk’s artistic vision is transformed through Black Metal music into a much more than just another atmospheric Black Metal record. ” Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død” is an album that most people will pass through because it is not promoted by big labels and well known Heavy Metal’s magazines and websites. It will be appreciated by the few fans of the underground. Such quality albums deserve to be heard by a wider audience, so do yourself a favor and do not pass that record, just let it grab your souls with its melancholic musical magic…
Rating: 7,5/10
Editor: Nikos Manousis
Related Link: AFSKY – Facebook Page
