Helheim - Kaoskult (2008)

Despite this being Helheim's sixth full-length album, I've never heard them before. And I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised. To me, it sounds like later Arcturus mixed with more standard black metal. It's not as avant-garde as Arcturus, but it has an experimental vibe that most black metal doesn't have. It also at times reminds me of Borknagar's underrated The Olden Domain. The songs are generally mid-paced and are driven by black metal guitars as well as clean guitars with a chorus effect. The chorus-effect guitars seem to be the main driver of the unique sound -- they're used everywhere: alone and under the distorted guitars. And it's such a simple thing, but they really help produce an atmosphere. Add to the guitars reasonably good drumming, good bass work, a light use of keyboards for atmosphere, raspy and clean Viking metal-style singing, and solid production, and you have a quality product.

Their MySpace page contains the first two songs from this album: "Det Norrone Alter" and "Northern Forces".