Country: Norway
Genre: Avant-Garde Black Metal / Psychedelic Jazz Metal
Release: 2026
For fans of: Oranssi Pazuzu, Gaahl’s Wyrd, Virus, Aenaon.
The Norwegian Trelldom, the personal vehicle of the iconic Gaahl (Gaahl’s Wyrd, ex-Gorgoroth), return with their fifth full-length album, “…By the Word…”. Continuing the radical sonic shift they began in 2024, the act moves definitively away from its traditional black metal past, diving into deep avant-garde, psychedelic and jazz paths. With the steady contribution of Kenneth Kapstad (Spidergawd, ex-Motorpsycho) on drums and Kjetil Møster on saxophone, their new work is a dark, ritualistic and highly experimental journey that tests the limits of extreme sound.
Tracklist :
- 1.When This Was Young 06:59
- 2.I Speak Forgotten Voices 05:01
- 3.This Moment the Life of a Memory 04:58
- 4.By the Word 06:00
- 5.Folding the Mind 05:08
- 6.The Word – Choose to Vanish 06:53
- 7.In There Outside 04:54
REVIEW : If you’re expecting to hear the classic Norwegian black metal of the ’90s from Trelldom, you’ve probably missed a few episodes. With “…By the Word…”, Gaahl and his crew take it to a completely different level. Here, traditional blast beats and tremolo give way to asymmetric rhythms, dissonant chords and a haunted jazz saxophone that builds a constant, psychotropic tension. Gaahl’s vocal performances are from another planet: theatrical, otherworldly and at times completely animalistic, breaking away from the typical harsh vocals of the past. It’s a sound that flirts heavily with the chaos of Oranssi Pazuzu, but with a very own, noir identity.
What impresses me most about the album is that it’s not simply an attempt to sound “weird” for no reason. Behind the experimental bursts and the avant-garde structure (as in the chaotic “Folding the Mind” or the opener “When This Was Young”), there’s an extremely tight, controlled and carefully crafted production. It’s not a messy psychedelic delusion, but a targeted, dark invocation. It demands patience and an open mind, but if you give it the time it needs, it’s an album that traps you in its paranoia.
