Helrunar are old school German black metal that also like to break out some folk touches every now and then. The best way to imagine this is The Somberlain meets Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk with a mix of Abbath and Satyr on vocals. There are also quite a few outbursts of whispering and even the occasional Enslaved-style chant. The tempos are mostly on the fast side, though they vary it up quite a bit to keep the music interesting. They also do so with a minimal amount of blasting which impressed me quite a bit. The double bass however is rarely off. The sound is also very old school in that is raw, but not indecipherable crap. It's a fine line between the two and Helrunar walk it with ease. The production also gives us a very good drum sound. It's nice to not hear a bass drum click. Especially on an album that uses it this much. The lyrics are most likely Satanic in nature, but I couldn't tell you for sure since meine Deutsche ist schiesse, (my German is shit). The bass does get killed in the mix a bit, but that doesn't hurt the overall quality of the record. Who listens to black metal for bass anyway? Helrunar also do something that I have not heard many black metal albums do lately, including ones I really liked. There is not a wasted second on the album. No overly long outros, no 20 minutes of silence, no bullshit whatsoever. This is a 52 minute ass-kicking from start to finish. This is black metal minimalism done to perfection. I think even the most grim and necro of us could appreciate what I find to be a damned good record. I'm going to shut up now or I'll end up talking about this album all day.