Essentially, a wholly different band but still driven by Inge as its main inspirational force, Doodswens represents black metal art in its purest and rawest form. It’s all very lo fi and grimy, no symphonic flourishes, sweeping synths or grand epic movements. So think Darkthrone and early Mayhem rather than Emperor or Dimmu Borgir here.
Despite the Anglo-Saxon song titles, most songs are actually all sung in her native Dutch, which is still quite unusual in black metal or metal in general, actually. The lyrics eschew mostly the worship Satan type of cheesy tropes, but rather give testimony to her struggles with her very real own inner demons.
‘Driven by Death’ oozes out your speakers, shrieking and buzzing as if you’ve walked into a scene from the Blair Witch Project with Inge as ravenous wraith spitting out her vocals and bashing away on the drumskins. Funnily enough, this first track is actually not that representative of the entire record, as if they wanted to put their grimiest, most noisy racket up front to send all posers running screaming back to their Sleep Token records and keep the good stuff hidden for those who cared enough to stick around after the first three minutes.
Not that it becomes less unpolished in any way, but it’s far less one dimensional as you might believe based on just those initial blasts, showing instead showing they can actually master different shades of black, like the slow burning piece of charcoal that is ‘These Wounds Never Healed ‘ or its follow up ‘She Carries the Curse’.
If you like your black metal, pure without sugar and cream, then by all means drink deep from Doodswens.
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REVIEW SCORE
| 8.4 | With a renewed lineup, Doodswens is clearly far from being on its deathbed, emanating raw, grimy black metal in its most primordial form. |
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