Ossaert appeared without warning last year and proved to be one of the most exciting new black metal bands to hail from the Netherlands. With elements that pulled equally from the bleak, aggressive side of the genre as well as haunting melodies from both the instrumentals and vocals, Bedehuis was an album I returned to often after its February 2020 release. A little over a year later the band has already prepared a follow-up titled Pelgrimsoord which takes the foundations of its predecessor and pushes them into even darker and tense directions.
Considering how fully formed Ossaert’s sound already was on album one, it makes sense that they’d build incrementally on that foundation rather than drastically reinventing any element. But even with that being the case, there’s a greater sense of ambition and scope this time around as not only do the songs now have titles rather than being numbered but the writing sprawls outwards towards an even denser sound. Each of the four tracks runs a bit longer than any on Bedehuis, and Ossaert uses this time to draw listeners in with pummeling whirlwinds of haunting riffing and methodical cadences. One of the things that I continue to love about this group is how they channel what I can best describe as an old-world sound, capturing a sense of grandeur similar to classical music but run through the warlike and aggressive cadence of the eras of expeditionary conquest. Songs move from whirlwinds of controlled chaos to grander climaxes where haunting and twisted melodies dance over top of the jagged bass lines, and while the formula hasn’t changed the atmosphere feels thicker and the band varies up the attack a bit more than before. “De dag en de verschijning” in particular stands out after repeat listens, using chilling tonality not unlike fellow Dutch black metal band Turia to create jagged yet hypnotic layers.
Pelgrimsoord opens with a sample of what sounds like a church choir, but the cracks and slight distortion make it sound extremely ghastly and unsettling before the music comes crashing through. Ossaert has continued to make use of one of their biggest assets, which is the combination of ear-piercing screams and soaring clean singing that proved to be just as powerful. The performance remains split fairly evenly, but when the singing takes over you get the impression that you’re hearing a ritual or other dark practice from deep within a cave as each word reverberates over the recording. Alongside the harsher ranges and the tonality of the instrumentation, it does often feel like Ossaert has transported you to a long-forgotten time and place, beckoning you towards something intriguing yet terrifying.
Although Ossaert has made small tweaks overall, their music remains just as impactful and capitalizes on the aggressive and melodic sides of black metal equally. There’s been something about Dutch black metal in recent years that has captured an old-world spirit, and Ossaert is one of the finest examples of this as they plunge you into tense songs that provide plenty of twists and turns. While this album may come in at the same score as Bedehuis due to it not drastically changing any of the elements that made that effort so engaging, I think this one does edge it out slightly thanks to just how thick and utterly dark the atmosphere is. Pelgrimsoord is available from Argento Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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