Sounds | Gaahls WYRD - And the Now

Over een paar weken, op 6 juni, kom het tweede album van de Noorse black metalband Gaahls WYRD uit via Season of Mist. Het gaat Braiding the Stories heten en belooft, afgaand op hetgeen daarvan reeds is uitgebracht, (weer) een traktatie te worden. Eerder al gaven de mannen een voorproefje in de vorm van de titelsong en later een tweede single, genaamd Time and Timeless Timeline. En nu is het tijd voor de derde single: And the Now.

Van And the Now zegt het persbericht: "And the Now" captures the essence of Gaahls WYRD's latest musical evolution — a dramatic, twisted, and cinematic exploration of sound and emotion. Blending introspective atmospheres with unbridled dissonance, the track showcases the band's expanded aesthetic, moving beyond the confines of traditional black metal to inhabit a dreamlike realm Gaahl refers to as the "White Lodge."

Anchored by Kristian "Gaahl" Espedal's dynamic vocal performances and Ole "Lust Kilman" Walaunet's stunning guitar work, "And the Now" channels the energy of ‘80s and ‘90s gothic rock without sacrificing the esoteric intensity that defines Gaahls WYRD. The single's layered composition mirrors the overarching theme of Braiding the Stories — the fluid transitions of dreams and subconscious emotion.

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Gaahls WYRD © Jorn Veberg

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Norwegian Grammy-winning metal outfit Gaahls WYRD stun with their new album, Braiding the Stories, via Season of Mist. Featuring vocalist Gaahl (aka Kristian Espedal), guitarist Lust Kilman (aka Ole Walaunet), drummer Spektre (aka Kevin Kvåle), and bassist Nekroman (aka Andreas Salbu), the group’s sophomore full-length elaborates conceptually on and widens the musical gaze of Gaahls WYRD sonic aesthetic. To wit, they’ve artfully united introspective vistas and violent upheaval on singles “Braiding the Stories,” “Time and Timeless Timeline,” and “And the Now.” If The Humming Mountain (2021) resided between spaces, Braiding the Stories is the lighthouse out of it.

“I call it the White Lodge,” Gaahl says, referring to Braiding the Stories’ differentia. “Maybe I’ll call it the Bright Lodge. I wanted to put focus on where I think Ole is most comfortable music-wise. There’s more things he’s connected to on this album than before. So, I jumped over the more black metal tracks, as I felt they didn't belong to this process. For example, when we sat down in the studio, we wanted a specific energy. That energy is a ‘80s and ‘90s thing. Almost gothic rock, but it’s more about the sound than the style. It’s an aesthetic for sure. If I may, everyone should pay close attention to Ole’s fantastic solos. They’re pieces of music [inside the songs].”

Braiding the Stories doesn’t scream retro, though. As with previous releases GastiR - Ghosts Invited (2019) and The Humming Mountain, it’s also not easy to pin down. From the unbridled dissonance of “And the Now,” the first track out of Gaahl’s grimoire, and driving scenery of “Flowing Starlight” to the heavy metal-prone “And the Now” and the aching nostalgia of the title track, Gaahls WYRD cleverly stalk their influences, while also ensuring their unorthodox fingerprints and adventurous mindset remain unspoiled. Reinforced by show-stopping musicianship and Gaahl’s penchant for Peter Gabriel-esque showmanship, Braiding the Stories isn’t black metal, death metal, or any other metal. Truly and utterly, this is Gaahls WYRD.

“Musically, it’s unique,” says Gaahl. “It’s not necessarily connected to GastiR and The Humming Mountain. Those albums are connected to very earthly elements, the natural flow of things. This album is another dimension—behind the veil, if you will. I remember I wanted to release ‘And the Now’ as the first single, but there’s probably too much information to be the first track out. Throughout this album, I use a lot of different voices, and I’ve thought a lot about how all these different characters fit [into the music]. So, I wanted the listener to fall into the album, not be distracted, and I think I’ve accomplished that. It’s cinematic.”

While most artists abhorred the pandemic, Gaahl adored it. Not for its destructiveness, but for what it afforded the songmaster. The isolation was creatively energizing. Without the thrum of the record industry and all its demanding machinations, Gaahl crafted his heavily-cerebrated metals unagitated. Indeed, much meaning and purpose was imbued into the process that fueled Braiding the Stories. The last words (about sleep) uttered by Gaahl on The Humming Mountain have transited into the first words (about dreams) on “The Dream.”

“I always work with the subconscious,” Gaahl says. “And dreams are where we are at the most aware of our subconsciousness, I think. In a way, Braiding the Stories is a continuation [of ‘The Sleep’] but told from a different perspective. So, to simplify, Braiding the Stories deals with dreams. Not specific dreams, though. The transitions of dreams, emotions flowing from one to another without pause. Everything I do tends to end up with a melancholic flow and feel without it necessarily being an idea–it just happens, really–but I avoided that this time around. It’s less physical. I referred to the White Lodge before. This time around, I feel I visited the White Lodge not the Black Lodge.”

The old adage says, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Gaahls WYRD are very much the “old adage” type. For the production, the group returned to Solslottet Studio in Bergen, Norway to co-produce with ace Iver Sandøy (Enslaved, Wardruna). There, they put down and perfected “Time and Timeless Timeline,” “And the Now,” and the title track, as well as the album’s three vivid interludes “The Dream,” “Voices in My Head,” and “Through the Veil.” Though Braiding the Stories wasn’t recorded all at once, it’s audio-visually breathtaking. Sandøy also mixed and mastered the sessions.

“Me and Iver have been working together on several albums,” says Gaahl. “He’s an important part of Gaahls WYRD. He’s used to my way of working. Sometimes, I can be quite frustrating to work with. If my mind isn’t feeding me inspiration, I won’t get anything done. In that way, I’m very comfortable working with Iver. I need to spar conceptual ideas with someone, and Iver’s very good at that. I don’t annoy the rest of the band with these things. Iver and I have a lot of discussions, and the ideas naturally grow from there. This time around, it was very easy.”

The striking cover art by visual artist Øivind Myksvoll (Wardruna, Trelldom) is just as mysterious and arresting as his work for The Humming Mountain. Look closely and you’ll find what appears to be hair (aka the veil) and the cosmos (crystallized wine from Gaahl’s collection). Indeed, the group’s signature horned figure lurks between the layers. For Gaahls WYRD, music, lyrics, concept, and art are synonymous. They’re designed to be experienced in their entirety and in unison. Braiding the Stories isn’t an obvious listen, but it gently (and sometimes maniacally) pulls at the listener. The sensation of the journey from opener “The Dream” to closing epic “Flowing Starlight” is quite unlike anything before. All hail Braiding the Stories!