Jernlov - Crucified

Jernlov - Crucified
Heimklang Studio, 10/15/20
Christian black metal

Piano in black metal might sound like a horrible idea to some, but I tend to usually enjoy it. Even in symphonic black metal it's rare to find songs that contain significant piano. Some Grave Declaration and early Crimson Moonlight songs are the only things that immediately come to mind for me besides this entire album. Jernlov is a new two-man band from Norway. This debut of theirs features a few notable artists such as Siervo (of The Slave Eye), Ronny Hansen (of Antestor and Vaakevandring), and David Sandvik (of In Grief and Roots of Tragedy). After hearing the preview tracks on YouTube, I was quite excited for this album, and then immediately disappointed with the cover art, to the point where I actually decided not to buy it for a while before eventually changing my mind. I am seriously not a fan of any depictions of Christ. They didn't draw this one themselves (I think this is a painting from a French artist - they credit him in the notes), but I still think something else would have been much better.

As for the actual music, this is some seriously piano-heavy symphonic black metal. The sad thing about it is just how mediocre that piano is. The piano and its underlying string instruments (which are probably synths, so I'll refer to them as that from now on) tend to lay over the music like a blanket, and they're present for the vast majority of the album, drowning the guitars into the background. As much as I love symphonic black metal, the poor composition and mixing honestly just adulterates this whole album for me, kind of like how Jar Jar Binks ruins every scene of The Phantom Menace in which he says a word, though perhaps to a lesser degree. It's just disappointing, because I want to be able to hear more of what is going on, but instead I get this simple, not very layered piano line that is just quarter notes or other simple rhythms much of the time. Setting all that aside, most of the meat in this album is totally fine - the vocals are good, the drumming is good, and the riffs that can be heard are good enough but not super impressive. Sometimes if I really focus and dig under the piano and synths I can pick up a bit on what sounds like a good riff, but it doesn't shine through at all like it should.

There are a few redeeming aspects to this. "Slaves to Righteousness" includes a nice, aggressive introduction in which the piano and synths are absent, and there's even a cool, well-executed guitar solo towards the end of it (which sounds a lot better than the solos on Frost Like Ashes' Fellowship of Suffering). In "En frelser på min vei", David Sandvik's clean vocals are really cool, especially since they are in Norwegian. Also, all of the lyrics were included in the insert, including proper English translations of the Norwegian songs (as well as the Norwegian lyrics), which is a huge plus for me. The lyrics are great too, God-honoring and often focusing on the Christian life.

I can't say that this is a bad album, nor can I say that the pianos and synths ruin it. But they definitely put a damper on things. I think this album would be a lot better if they remastered it to make the guitars louder, and make the piano parts a little bit more complex and mixed in. I do hope that Jernlov continues to create music (hopefully with a greater frequency than the other Norwegian Christian black metal bands), as there is great potential here, and I think this could have been an amazing album.

Score: 75/100

Metal Archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Jernlov/Crucified/901970
Nordic Mission: https://www.nordicmission.net/en/products/jernlov-crucified-cd-pre-order

Very nice review.  I'd generally agree with it though I actually don't mind the synths as much.

They recently posted a new track!

Wow, that is definitely an improvement! I think the synths at the opening could still be better, but it is nice to hear much more of the guitars. I hope they are able to release their next album soon!

They released a new album and it had Claudio Enzler of Sacrificium so I checked it out. Also appearances by a dude from Renascent and Antestor an actually reminds me of Renascent at times. I'm not usually into Black Metal but I like this.