Track By Tracks: KVÖL - In Similitude Of A Dream (2022)

1. Unfettered Within:

"We think we’re unfettered until we choose to cast off the bondage within..."

Stein: This was the first song I wrote the music for. I was listening to Heilung when I started writing this and I think the introduction has that kind of vibe which changes once the song kicks in. The high strung acoustic instrument you can hear at the start is a Turkish saz with half of its strings missing. I think this song balances our earlier more raw black metal sound with the folkier elements introduced later in the album.

2. The Looming Black:

"I try to walk forward but I’m two steps back, never outrunning the looming black..."

Stein: This was the second song I wrote the music for. Again, I was trying to balance our earlier black metal sound with something folkier and transcendental which you can hear in the fast tremeloed guitar parts in certain sections of the song. The verse sections has this off-kilter feel which was inspired by some of the weird rhythmic stuff from the Ruun album by Enslaved.

3. Bleed me Home:

"I cannot fight this all alone... With my broken spirit, bleed me home..."

Stein: This is probably my favourite track from the album. It was salvaged from an idea I had but forgot about. I added a different verse and tweaked a few things. Marek thought the song needed a little something extra on the chorus so I added some of my own clean vocals to give that last line a lift.

4. To Hearken Her Spires:

"You're a relic of what used to be..."

Stein: This where the album gets really atmospheric. The final three tunes on the album are very much inspired by Summoning. I wanted to emulate their drum programming and synth style but with earthier sounds. There's a chord which the string section plays in the bridge which was described as "evil" and I couldn't resist putting it in there. I love Marek's clean vocals on this one.

5. Ageless War:

"The rains descended as they gathered and mended. This is the ageless war that has never ended..."

Stein: This song makes me imagine a battle raging in the rain outside of a castle. I wanted to write something which had the epic feel of playing through Baldur's Gate. The section with the clean vocals by Revek Katsou is great; initially, I sang this part but it wasn't working so I enlisted her considerable talents.

6. Bestorm my Night:

"...and the trees were skeletal hands reaching out towards the low Winter sun..."

Stein: We had a track with spoken word on our first album. It wasn't intentional to have another haha but we felt that the spoken word verses contrasted well with the screams. An early mix of this song sounded very sparse drum-wise so Marek suggested that I add some more drums; the martial sounding snare rolls as well as some floor tom stuff is the result.