Heimdall’s Wacht have been silent for some while now (seven years actually – accuracy-obsessed Ed.), and the state of the Western World has deteriorated so much in that time they’ve felt moved, much like the eponymous hero of their new album’s title, to wake again to try to sort things out…

On the face of it, that’s a noble mission, and there’s no doubting the band’s sincerity or indeed the intellectual heft behind these recordings, which promise to critique ‘problems of a modernized world with reductionist materialism’. I’m on board with all of this, but is a raging, old-school-obsessed black metal album the correct platform to get the point across?

Of course, black metal is probably the only musical medium left in 2023 where such heretical views can be voiced, but the listener has little or no hope of discerning what’s going on when faced with the tripartite vocal attack of Wiborg, Sarolf and Saruman. At times the impressive musicality of the band is simply swamped by the combined cacophony of barking, screaming and growling, with the guitars and drums mixed so low as to be barely discernible. The multi-vocal arrangement actually works best on closing track Ich durchstschritt das Runentor, a simple, sad acoustic track set against an unsettling, cold backdrop that forms a bleak end to an album that offers little hope for the salvation of life as we know it.

That said, if you are happy to simply take what’s going on at face value and enjoy the tracks simply as pieces of music, there’s a lot to enjoy on tracks like the spine tingling pseudo-anthem Europa brennt and epic standout slowburner Hexeninsel Des Teufels Buhlin.

In a world where artistic sincerity and integrity are at an absolute premium, Heimdall’s Wacht stand tall as people with music worth listening to, so I’m happy to overlook a few stylistic/delivery quibbles to say this is one of the most sonically worthwhile black metal albums I’ve heard in a while. If you enjoy unapologetic, old fashioned celebrations of ‘the good old days’ you should probably give it a spin, before those same days are written out of our history…

Mystagogie releases on December 1st.