ALBUM REVIEW: Kvaen - The Formless Fires

The third album for one man project Kvaen, The Formless Fires builds on the work of Jacob Björnfot, the mastermind behind the outfit, which initially appeared in 2020’s highly commended The Funeral Pyre and followed up by 2022’s The Great Below. 

Influenced by his environment, there’s a creative blending on The Formless Fires, with a melancholic feel that intertwines and sees beauty and violence stand shoulder to shoulder. Listen through the harsh riffs and driving drumming and you’ll find some exceptional guitar work that shines. Like many Black Metal musicians, Björnfot draws from his surroundings as influences. Kvaen is named after the people who populated his home near the Finnish border in the Viking era. “Because of our surroundings, bizarre weather conditions, northern lights etc. help shape the way we see and hear things. It affects us more than we think” he explains, and one can certainly visualise the influencing landscape in Kvaen’s sound. 

 Assisted by drummer Frederik Andersson (ex-Amon Amarth) who provides some blistering drumming on the album, The Formless Fires comprises eight songs of varying degrees of intensity, but all delivered with a passion and power that is difficult to match. It’s often the case that single-solo projects, especially in the Black Metal genre can be at best limited. That’s not the case with this fireball of an album, an underlying ferocity rages throughout and on tracks such as The Perpetual Darkness, Traverse the Nether and The Ancient Gods the mix of melodic harmonies and punishing bursts stands tall. 

Subject matter is varied, with The Perpetual Darkness about being born different to the normal, whilst there is also reference to the ancient Norse ritual of Ättestupa, where elderly villagers jump to their death from high peaks on De Dödas Sång (Song Of The Dead). Although this is very much a solo project, Björnfot can call on Sebastian Ramstedt (Necrophobic) on Traverse the Nether and Chaq Mol (Dark Funeral) on The Wings of Death, who both add to the songs. Having a full band at his disposal for live work is important, and that’s where guitarists Kristian Gustavsson and Rasmus Rova and bassist Per Lindström bass fit in. With plenty of tour dates completed and planned for 2024 and beyond, it’s an interesting time for Kvaen, and one can only hope that some UK shows may be a part of their future.

The Formless Fires is out today via Metal Blade Records
Review by Hutch