Well, bugger me sideways, Gaahls Wyrd have gone and done it again, haven’t they? Braiding the Stories, the latest slab of sonic sorcery from Norway’s grim maestros, is a beast that doesn’t so much creep out of the shadows as it does swagger forth, horns gleaming, daring you to keep up. This isn’t just an album so much as a bloody expedition into the murky recesses of the mind, equal parts unsettling and exhilarating. If you thought their previous outings, GastiR – Ghosts Invited or The Humming Mountain, were a bit out there, strap in, because this one’s a wild ride through a haunted cosmos.

Kicking off with The Dream, you’re immediately wrong-footed. Sombre notes swirl like fog over a fjord, and Gaahl’s croaking incantation—“this is the voice beneath the sleep”—feels like a warning from some eldritch entity. It’s discombobulating, sure, but that’s the point. Gaahls Wyrd won’t hold your hand, but they will shove you into the deep end and let you flail. From there, the title track, Braiding the Stories, weaves a half-forgotten classical melody into a droning wall of guitars, Gaahl’s voice slithering through the mix like a serpent telling tales of forgotten gods. Lust Kilman’s solo toward the end is a thing of beauty, a searing burst of light in the gloom that’ll have you banging your head and weeping simultaneously. Epic? You bet your frostbitten bippy it is.

The album’s knack for fashioning atmosphere is relentless. Voices in My Head sets a brooding stage, all creeping dread and whispered menace, paving the way for the absolute monster that is Time and Timeless Timeline. This track is a glorious beast, its riff blasting out like a comet trail while Spektre’s drums thunder like the hooves of Satan’s own cavalry. There’s a whiff of Pink Floyd’s cosmos-spanning melancholy here, a dash of Voivod’s angular weirdness, but make no mistake—this is Gaahls Wyrd through and through. It’s one of the album’s high points, and trust me, there’s no shortage of those.

And the Now keeps the Floydian vibes simmering but never feels like a nostalgia trip. This is music of the present, sharp and vital, with the band’s collective psyche distilled into something fresh and ferocious. Through the Veil dials up the unease, channelling, at some remove, the paranoid pulse of Hawkwind’s Sonic Attack—a brief but potent interlude that leaves you glancing over your shoulder. Then comes Visions and Time, where Kilman’s riffwork slices through the air like a cursed blade, Gaahl’s vocal orchestra conjuring nightmares while Spektre’s equine drum assault gallops into oblivion. It’s cinematic as hell, like Baz Luhrmann and Tim Burton got drunk and decided to remake Hellraiser with a blackened metal soundtrack. Pretentious? Not a chance. Splendid? Abso-bloody-lutely.

Root the Will is where things get properly unhinged. New bassist Nekroman grinds away like a demon chewing through bedrock, and the band fuses every stream from the album—dissonance, melody, chaos—into a raging torrent of inspiration. It’s not the album’s peak, but if you want a crash course in what Gaahls Wyrd are about, this is your ticket. Total mayhem, and I’m here for it.
And then, the closer, Flowing Starlight… Sweet merciful Odin, what a way to bow out. This is a gargantuan, eighties-infused psych-rock odyssey, swirling through the void on Spektre’s driving beat. The vocals—part gothic croon, part cosmic howl—nod to legends like Eldritch or Murphy but remain unmistakably Gaahl. It’s breathtaking, a song that feels like staring into the heart of a nebula and finding it stares back. If this doesn’t leave you gobsmacked, check your pulse.

Braiding the Stories isn’t black metal, death metal, or any metal you can neatly box up. It’s Gaahls Wyrd, full stop—a band that stalks influences like a predator while leaving their own warped fingerprints on everything. The production, courtesy of Solslottet Studio and Iver Sandøy, is pristine, letting every riff, drum hit, and vocal nuance shine.

This is music that doesn’t just play along in the background —it haunts, it provokes, it transports… it demands attention. Gaahls Wyrd have crafted a journey that’s as challenging as it is rewarding, and I’ll be damned if it isn’t one of the finest things to claw its way out of 2025. All hail the Wyrd.

Braiding The Stories releases on June 6th.