Review Summary: Norse Code
There is no greater sonic signature in metal than tremolo picking in black metal. Mastered by extreme guitarists with ill intent, the fast-strumming technique has fascinated me ever since the likes of Satyricon, In The Woods… and Dissection desecrated my ears in the mid ‘90s. The soloing-meets-wall-of-sound effect it creates has endured, and this year alone, a number of exponents have excelled. None more so than Bergen-based Sworn with their fifth LP “Null Crowned The Infinite”.
While Finland has …And Oceans, Sweden Wormwood and Germany Imperium Dekadenz, Norway fields Sworn in the ultra-melodic space, with all four bands using tremolo picking as their chief conveyor of atmosphere and energy. Sworn broke through relative obscurity in 2023 with their “Journey Told Through Fire”, a well-received melodic opus of stargazing and introspection. They now return with “Null Crowned the Infinite”, descending into darker shades of meloblack. Multifaceted opener “The Starless Origin” works as both an ominous lead in and, as it unfolds, a fully fledged epic. Early listens might suggest album front loading, such is main man Christoffer Kjørsvik’s ambition on “The Starless Origin”, but this is later dispelled. The plethora of trems culminates in the lean but highly effective closing riff, the only deviation of its kind on “Null Crowned the Infinite”.
Where similar bands of Sworn’s ilk, such as Cnoc An Tursa and Blackbraid, lean into folk endemic to their culture, this record follows a more streamlined approach that places the guitars front and centre for its entirety. Escalation is keenly felt within each song with leads becoming more expansive and extended, as pronounced in the title track and “A Cosmic Storm”. This gives the tracks room to breathe before the payoff becomes suffocating.
Sworn clearly gravitate towards melodicism but not at the expense of other blackened traits, with “Fracture of Aeons” possessing a Watain-like grit and stomp. Jens Bogren has nailed the mix on “Null Crowned the Infinite” with “The Entropic Void” possessing a depth and breadth that suits tremolo black so well. The clincher arrives with “Circle of The Eternal”, a reimagining of drowning to resurrection, put to eerie keys and a hypnotic march that slowly morphs into an ecstatic series of finger tapping solos. With it, the record comes full Circle and combines with “The Starless Origin” to form massive bookends in an exquisite piece of tremolo artwork.
