Hirilorn - Legends of Evil and Eternal Death

Hirilorn was a short-lived French black metal band, ending due to some degree of interband drama ("Sinn and Yohann have betrayed and humiliated Hirilorn by taking part on a hard-core recording"). It's not clear exactly what happened, other than obvious bad blood. Members Hasjurl and Shaxul would go on to form the much better known Deathspell Omega shortly after Hirilorn's demise.

I feel like a lot of people seek out this band hoping to hear some really raw/kvlt DsO material. In reality, Hirilorn are a very different band thematically and musically -- not sharing much with DsO other than the same members and subgenre of metal. Hirilorn is the name of a tree used as a prison in Lord of the Rings -- that fact alone sets the tone for the type of music Hirilorn play. Their sole LP, Legends of Evil and Eternal Death contains only 5 songs, but each of them clocks in at over 10 minutes long. However, don't let this steer you away! It contains some fantastic black metal that's heavily saturated in the 1990s European BM sound prevailing of the time, in addition to some fantastic musicianship. While it's heavily atmospheric in the same way that DsO are, it's much more technically melodic (I find DsO's atmosphere to be much more "chaotic" in contrast).

If you're a fan of the 1990s-era European black metal bands (i.e. Darkthrone, Mayhem etc.), I imagine you'll like this. If you're a big DsO fan, approach this with an open mind and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.  

ARTIST: HIRILORN

ALBUM: LEGENDS OF EVIL AND ETERNAL DEATH

GENRE: BLACK METAL

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