Track By Tracks: HOGSTUL - Ominous Fragmenta Tuptdalr (2021)

 

First of all I would shortly like to explain the title. It is combined with three words from three different languages. “Ominous”; clearly English no explanation needed. “Fragmenta” is Latin for fragments/bits and pieces, and “Tuptdalr” is very old Norwegian spelling for a place today called Tuddal – and Hogstul is a place in Tuddal.

The album contains 3 long longer songs, and counts 45:51 minutes in total.

The first track is called "The Beast" (18:27 minutes) who will unravel from among its many variations and reveal that all the darkness that inhabits the interior of our being, sooner or later will be set free and "The Beast" will take control. The invocation of Mephistopheles towards the end accentuates the trance and the catharsis will inevitably come. For me it is a very personal, yet tormenting track, which started out as only 5 minutes, but as I worked with this song new ideas arose and it developed naturally by the day. Of course there are some repetitions with minor changes, but it progresses and evolves naturally – as does the vocals towards the end. Key words are inner demons, external dissonance and pestering, solitude and mental capacity vs madness and agony. Quotation: “My demon is silence”.

“Tomb” continues (14:57 minutes) and its opening I have been told could well be the soundtrack of a Dantesque Opus, of dark and macabre tales. Tomb is considered by me to be “True- Hogstul-Horror-Metal”; it’s full of chaos, fright and fear. Tomb changes atmospheres along the way and is really full of details. The lyrics could easily be interpreted in many ways, but for me its basically that time is the enemy. What do you experience during your time being, is it all real or just an illusion? Sanity versus insanity! Quotation: “Time is a Tomb”.

The album concludes with the track "A Nightmare at 40 Fathoms" (12:27 minutes), which also was released as a full single one year ago! The music is very inspired by the powerful nature of Norway, where winters are truly harsh and dark. The track has both violent and nostalgic passages with a lot of emotions. It is actually three different tracks sawn together as one longer track. This will also be “revealed” in the limited tape release by Screaming Skull Records where the lyrics are included with Part I, II and III. This is more or less a horror story where you are being dragged mentally further and further down in a horrible dreamlike state; when its hard to tell fiction from reality and what secrets dwells inside your brain. Quotation: “A journey facing the fathomless”