THE BEAST

Today, Purity Through Fire sets January 31st, 2020 as the international release date for Greve's highly anticipated debut album, Nordarikets Strid, on CD format.

As prefaced by Nidingsdåd utav det uråldriga EP released earlier in 2019 by Purity Through Fire, Greve exclusively play classic, second-wave Swedish black metal - which should come as no surprise considering it comes under the banner of Ancient Records linchpin Swartadauþuz (Azelisassath, Bekëth Nexëhmü, Digerdöden, Gnipahålan, Musmahhu, Mystik, Summum, Trolldom, Daudadagr), here joined by vocalist Lik of Bekëth Nexëhmü renown. Much like most/all of Swartadauþuz's projects are blessed with an intrinsically ancient sound, authentic and austere as the age-old classics from which his imagination sprung, so too does Greve with a breathtakingly spectral 'n' stargazing style of black metal mysticism.

That aforementioned EP was a two-song (and all-too-short) display of their mystical mastery, but at last arrives Greve's first full-length, Nordarikets Strid. Taking those same tantalizing rudiments of Nidingsdåd utav det Uråldriga but spreading them across an eight-song/41-minute landscape, the duo's canvas here is dense yet spacious, racing yet floating, dreams both darkest and most majestic, bringing 1996 to the present like so few records can. Indeed, it's Atmospheric Black Metal Art (Exclusively) for dreamers and lone wolves alike, a monument by which to launch journeys to the stars and/or into the self: verily, cosmic keys to Greve's creations and times. But even within such staunchly structured/strictured classicism resides a wealth of breathtaking songwriting that further adds to this ever-enduring idiom rather than simply picking at the bones of its carcass. Or, but one need only say that Nordarikets Strid is MAGICK willed into sonic form.

Black metal of this ilk may've largely died long ago, but Greve's sumptuous swell across Nordarikets Strid stands strong, its vision boundless, its appeal timeless. The past is most definitely more alive than ever!

Witness that present for yourself with the brand-new track "Offerbål till Gudarna"

Tracklisting for Greve's Nordarikets Strid
1. Intro
2. Vid Dödens Tröskel
3. Nordarikets Strid
4. I Svarta Solens Magi
5. Det Gamla Rikets Ruin
6. Ur Nordiskt Vrede
7. Offerbål till Gudarna
8. Outro