With their fourth album,
Krek,
Khold continue to do something that has been controversial in Norwegian black metal/death metal circles: sing in Norwegian. It's quite ironic when you think about it:
Khold are from Norway, and yet other Scandinavians have wondered whether or not it is a good idea for lead vocalist Gard to be singing in Norwegian exclusively. English, after all, is the unofficial language of black metal and death metal; the vast majority of European black metal and death metal bands perform in English exclusively whether they're from Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, or the Czech Republic. If moshers from Finland are touring Austria with moshers from Italy, their conversations may very well be in English. And it has been argued that by writing in Norwegian exclusively,
Khold are sort of ghettoizing themselves in the black metal/death metal world. That's one point of view, but one could easily counter that
Khold's Norwegian lyrics help them stand out in a very crowded, competitive field. And even if one doesn't understand a word of Norwegian,
Krek offers a sonically exciting dose of black metal/death metal (more black metal than death metal). This is music that is heavy, intense, and forceful yet darkly atmospheric and not without melodic appeal. In contrast to all the moshers who prefer ultra-fast tempos,
Khold would rather inflict most of their damage at slow and medium tempos.
Khold aren't part of the
Black Sabbath-obsessed doom metal/stoner rock crowd, but their atmospheric, gloomy nature has been well received by doom/stoner fans -- at least the ones who aren't freaked out by the fact that their lyrics are in Norwegian. For those who don't insist on black metal and death metal being in English 100 percent of the time,
Krek is a solid example of what these Nordic moshers have to offer. ~ Alex Henderson