Útgarðar – Fire Smoked Upon the Wolf’s Back Review

By Dear Hollow

Norse mythology pervading black metal is nothing new. Due to the style’s Scandinavian origins, it would not surprise me to see Lucifer and Odin taking swigs of Christian blood together in a burning Waffle House in like Tromsø, for instance. Norse Paganism has always been the wingman for anti-Christianity under Metallum’s profile lyrical themes, so the slaughter of Ymir and the rise of Yggdrasil across the yawning void Ginnungagap, the rivalry of Loki and Thor, and the fierce matchups of Ragnarök have long captured the imaginations of the western world. In this way, Útgarðar offers little new, as you’ll find the nine worlds, the great frost-giant Ymir, the trolls, and the formidable ferocity of the wolves Fenrir, Sköll, and Hati all play a part. A tangible thread of storytelling courses through the thirty-two minutes of debut Fire Smoked Upon the Wolf’s Back.

You may recognize Útgarðar’s two members, as American instrumentalist Niðafjöll (Nathan Verschoor) is known for his work with recent Uada, Veiled, and Altars of the Moon, while Swedish vocalist/guitarist Seiðr (Andreas Westholm) features a storied discography with acts like Blackest, Seid, and Serpent Omega. Both members offer a distinctly down-tuned sound, heavier guitar tone, and more “deathened” snarls adding to the rotten sound, but Fire Smoked Upon the Wolf’s Back is black metal through and through: Útgarðar offers their caustic and vicious interpretation of unholy trinity of blastbeats, shrieks, and tremolo. Refusing to settle into monotony, the duo manages a ritualistic flare and doomed atmosphere that makes it hard to shake, as the frost of the Scandinavian pines and the solemnity of the setting sun are felt in every movement.

Útgarðar utilizes a powerful and simple approach, balancing memorable melody, caustic blackened attacks, and ritualistic doom – tied together into dynamic songwriting. While intro “The Pyres of Utgard” offer the former two in a vicious track whose only reprieve is the haunting clean vocals buried behind slower passages, “Ymir Awakens” and “Trolls of Muspel Trolls of Frost” are clear centerpieces, brimming with tension between its ambient lulls, vicious tremolo, and doom weight – even the ambient passages feature subtle percussion injecting a fire throughout. This continues into the more subdued closers, “Fire Smoked Upon the Wolf’s Back” and “Under Soil,” in which ritualistic atmosphere takes front and center, such as in the pulsing percussion and shamanistic chants of the title track or the rotten ambient sprawl of the album closer. While balance is a clear priority for Útgarðar, each cut features a distinct melodic motif that adds to the memorability of the album, as the cleans of the title track or the guitar/vocal melodies of “Under Soil” elevate an otherwise despondent set of tracks.

There are no directly negative tracks within Fire Smoked Upon the Wolf’s Back, and largely Útgarðar’s only sin is its inconsistent mood. The contrast between the fiery second-wave of “The Pyres of Utgard” and the shamanistic despair of “Under Soil” is stark. While the best-of-both-worlds “Ymir Awakens” and “Trolls of Muspel Trolls of Frost” smoothen this transition in what would be an album-long dynamic, they settle neatly into three separate approaches instead. The highlights are so because of their haunting blend of energy and atmosphere, while the closing tracks dispel with much of the energy while the opener foregoes atmosphere. In a way, the album then feels like a Viking Venn diagram, with the centerpieces constituting the near-perfect overlap.

That’s not to say that Útgarðar shoots themselves in the foot, because I haven’t quite experienced the haunting and evocative quality of Asatro-themed black metal that actually feels authentic and organic the way Fire Smoked Upon the Wolf’s Back does. It plays it relatively safe in terms of the second wave, but its infusion of doom filth and ritualistic primacy simply adds up to this: a damn good black metal album. While moods are disparate, you won’t care because every one of them is accomplished with rotten grit and otherworldly darkness undergirded by tense Norseman violence. Furious black metal, ritualistic menace, and mammoth weight have a weapon in this particular Ragnarök, and you’ll be glad to die by Odin’s side for Útgarðar.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: ATMF Records
Website: facebook.com/Útgarðar
Releases Worldwide: February 23rd, 2024

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Photographer Uses World’s Blackest Material as a Backdrop

What kind of photos do you get if you shoot with a backdrop made with one of the blackest materials available to the public? Photographer Mathieu Stern recently decided to find out, and he documented his experiment in the 5-minute video above.

The blackest paint in existence is said to be Vantablack, which is made from carbon nanotubes that trap light. The paint absorbs a whopping 99.965% of visible light. If you're interested in using it, though, you're probably out of luck: the substance is exclusively licensed to British Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor for artistic use.

Thankfully, for the rest of us, a Japanese brand called KoPro recently released a new ultra-black paint called Mosou Black. Absorbing 99.4% of visible light, the new paint is now said to be the blackest paint that can actually be bought. For about $25 (plus shipping), anyone can now buy a 100ml (~3.38oz) bottle of the water-based paint.

Mosou Black was inspired by another KoPro product called the Visible Light Absorbing Flock Sheet, a rayon-base fabric that has been electrostatically flocked with a low-gloss nylon pile. It absorbs 99.5% of visible light, making it ever-so-slightly darker than Mosou Black.

The VL Flock Sheet is the material that Stern bought to use in photo shoots. The photographer shot photos comparing the VL Flock Sheet with a standard black professional backdrop, and the difference in light absorption was clear.

"It's like the object is floating in a black void," Stern says.

Here are some resulting photos shot with the VL Flock Sheet backdrop:

"For me, the performance of the [VL Flock backdrop] is crazy and changes the way we can light a subject for video or a photo shoot," Stern says.

You can find more of Stern's work on his website and more of his videos on his popular YouTube channel.

P.S. In case you're interested in the blackest materials out there: a non-commercially-available one was announced in late 2019 by researchers at MIT. Also made from carbon nanotubes, the material is 10 times darker than any other "very black" material (including Vantablack), absorbing 99.995% of all incoming light from any angle. Unfortunately, just like with Vantablack, it's unlikely you'll be able to get your hands on it anytime soon.

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