Artist: Wyrdstæf
Title: Primordial Blood
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Apocalyptic Witchcraft
Well this debut from UK Paleolithic time travellers Wyrdstaef has been a long time coming. Maybe not quite 12,000 plus years give or take the odd million, but a long time. Eight years at least. They did their debut gig at the 2018 Warhorns Festival and to say it was an experience cannot express how bloody weird and in your face it was. Or the mess their makeup made of the sinks…
I was sold straight away though. They were unique nd hugely charismatic and committed. and made a badge out of bones that hit me… Things got in the way though; life, other band commitments of some members (I think we’re up to three Trivax members at the moment but don’t quote me) and we’ve had nothing since 2021 and the Great Migrations EP. Nothing but some more startling live performances like at the first Fortress. But at last they found the perfect label in my opinion in Apocalyptic Witchcraft and Primordial Blood is about to be shed…
‘White Spring’ opens at a crackling campfire. The primordial drum sounds roar, besting out the ritual and the rough barked voice rings out. Throat singing and weird electronic sounds stalk the background. The chant rises, full of fire and aggression. Snarling and growling snakes around to the fore and finally, a held moment and the riff crashes down. Discordant, heavy like a mammoth falling. You really are right there, in the darkness, in the circle…
‘Great Migrations’ is a blizzard, a howling storm. Blackened death and the hiss and bite of harsh electronics as the drums pummel like rocks and the vocals bark guttural imperatives into the teeth of the storm. Oh this is wild, primordial stuff. Huge guitars savaging and honestly the harsh electronics here are just brilliant – from that first gig they have been intrinsic to Wyrdstaef, the heart of chaos and the spirits that the rituals conjure. Fuck this makes you feel alive!
‘Hyperborean’ is low whispered chants, voices somewhere out there. Hunting? It feels like closing in on prey… Slow, dark, rich guitar and bass, the strange disembodied sounds…A rhythmic clatter, bursts of speeding black metal, the voice rising up in urgency and power and intent. Its insanity, with intent. Urzhan commanding attention, the Shaman powering the violence of the guitars as Baksu and Malang keep the tribe in time with the heartbeat and the thunder and the Revenant haunts the shadows, power and fear in one.
‘Parhelion’ trudges into a blizzard. The priest leads the chants, keeping them in line, circling them making them hold focus… Howls, cries, the spirit upon them, the spirits coming through. They fall quiet save for the drum beat, the sound of stone. The cry which rises is of the wyrd. Minimal, hypnotic, enthralling gradually sliding into a realm of echo and the voice of the guitar alone…
This flows into ‘Primordial Bloodlines’ itself. Slow graceful musical waters still thick and rich with spirit and the life of the world. Clean vocals, singing, whispering, haunting, raising a final cry to the sky. A hymn to the past, to all the souls that came before A song of remembrance, deep in the twisted roots of the earth and the mountains and the gods that watch over us from the night sky. It is a glorious closure; melodic and wild and passionate and quite, quite beautiful.
Wyrdstaef in their long awaited debut have done us proud. They are still strange and unique and genuinely strive to bridge that gap between us, now, and the primordial world where spirit and power are living and breathing in every river, every storm and every hard won meal. It is the sound of the tribe gathering, shamanistic leader calling on them, calling on the spirits to keep them warm, alive and safe. A pact between them, a pledge to the earth made. Black metal, progressive, electronica and sheer force of nature are the hard chipped tools of Wyrdstaef and with their debut at last it is time for us all to treasure them.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 