I assure you, I don't normally listen to this much atmospheric black metal, but it just keeps coming through the cracks this year. No matter how much I caulk, it just keeps seeping through. Oh well. What keeps filling the buckets is mostly quite pleasant. Enter Wiegedood. I am surely mispronouncing this name “Ouija Dude” like a typical American, but it's kind of amusing to say. Anyways, there is nothing I would call amusing about the music. Oh, and by the way, “wiegedood” is the Dutch equivalent of SIDS.
While the music is a bit more repetitive in nature than my general interests, just by the second listen I found it to be pretty infectious. The maintained lightning pace of the blastbeats and tremolo chords are deceivingly uniform, but there are a respectable number of changes in progression that occur throughout the arrangements. Lengthy opening track “Svanesang” also breaks for some calming post-metal that features no drumming and just a few picked notes echoing through the reverb. These interludes work quite well given the contrast with the general walls of distortion
There is the occasional surprise to be found as well. “Onder Gaan” has a transition that caught me off guard and left me smirking a bit. This closing track also has some spoken word from a female voice in what I assume is Dutch that closes the album on a foreboding note. In the end this is a worthwhile listen, and some of the bigger atmospheric BM fans I know couldn't seem to say enough positive things about it. Check it out for yourself on bandcamp. 5 Euro to buy.