Featuring six songs and 33 minutes of exclusive material, this special split album brings together two of Swedish black metal's most elite names. Voodus have been on a tear since their formation in 2015, releasing their massively acclaimed Into the Wild debut LP in 2018 through Shadow Records as well as three EPs, with last year's two-song/24-minute Open the Otherness displaying the band's increasingly epic vision. With Ginnungagap, their half of the split, Voodus continue to explore that epic vision with two mind-expanding songs combining for 17 minutes of obsidian majesty and malevolence: truly, this horde is on the rise. Domgård, by comparison, are veterans of the scene, forming in 1997 but delivering their debut album in 2010. However, the band has released a steady stream of albums ever since, retaining an authentically late '90s vintage; oft unheralded, Domgård continues to create black metal of a superlative degree. With their half, Ljungeld över människan, Domgård present four tracks which ever so subtly expand upon their characteristic sound – searing execution stacked against sweeping dynamics, fog-choked atmosphere revealing bewitching melodicism – all of which further underline the band's status as Sweden's standard-bearers of vivid classicism.
To conclude, the split Ginnungagap / Ljungeld över människan counts as a masterpiece and one of the top releases of 2021.
Notes:
Ginnungagap / Ljungeld över människan was released on June 10, 2021 via Regain Records as double-CD digipack, vinyl LP, and cassette tape formats.
Personnel:
Voodus
E. Kjönsberg: Guitars
T. Fongelius: Guitars, Vocals
Desekrator: Bass
Marcus Fors Drums (2018-present)
Domgård
Vindkall: Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards
Hrimner: Drums, Vocals
Askr: Bass
Mardröm: Guitars