"Fördärv" is the first album from the swedish one-man project Bergraven. For a debut it isn't bad at all, I'd say it's a decent album overall. It reminded me a bit of Beatrik's "Journey Through The End Of Life", which is an album I really enjoyed. This album contains more positives than negatives, but i'll try to mention everything in this review.

The guitar tone is pretty nice, but nothing outstanding. It sounds quite good, but it doesn't bring anything new to the black metal sound, nor does it insult it. Think of a distorted guitar tone with mainly mid-tempo and upbeat rhythms, and you've got Bergraven's first album. However, the riffs are great. They do tend to get a bit repetitive in some of the longer songs that contain less riffs, but that's not to say the music gets boring. The riffs are quite unique, and they vary between up-beat brutal rhythms to slow and haunting mid-tempo rhythms.

What I disliked the most about this album were the vocals. I don't know if they were badly recorded, or if Bergraven can't do Black Metal, but whatever it is, they were quite annoying.

That being said, the instrumental parts in this album were mostly appreciated more than the parts with vocals, but the vocals didn't kill the whole experience. I'd say they only affected the songs a bit negatively.

ThE stand-out track on Fordarv is definitely 'Dagen Före Döden'. It sounds very epic (especially with an intro like that!), and the riffs are undoubtably the best ones featured on the album. Right after the epic intro we're introduced to the best riffs on the album, which are soon to be joined by fast and agressive drum beats. 'Dagen Före Döden' was an amazing way to start an album.

The main problem with this album is that it doesn't contain any atmosphere, the production is too clean. Yes, clean production is good, but when it comes to making black metal, some keyboards or any other instruments that help build a great atmosphere are greatly appreciated. The intro track would've been a song that could've greatly used some atmoshpere.

All this being said, this isn't a bad album at all, and it's definitely good for a debut album. Bergraven just needs to work on some dark and haunting atmospheres a bit more and he'll make a great album in no time. Recommended if you like Black Metal that has lots of good riffs.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]