Myrholt is the more recent name of now Mosjøen-based Ole Alexander Myrholt‘s solo work as it focuses in on atmospheric black metal experimentation with no greater goal than creating old school black metal. I was first introduced to Myrholt‘s general legacy of work through my exploration of melodic/symphonic black metal outliers and his gothic/symphonic black metal band Enslavement of Beauty, though I have really only spent considerable time with their earliest demo ‘Devilry and Temptation’ from 1998. It seemed like trendy stuff to me so I didn’t dig around the rest of their discography much. Beyond that he also moonlighted in old school death metal project Those Left Behind largely performing all elements. Myrholt itself seems to be functioning as his sole black metal project and ‘Vinter’ is a promising introduction to his already prolific efforts.

This is one of those releases where I become somewhat enamored with it’s style and mood and then I go online and find very little confirmation for it’s actual existence despite being sent a promo. Much of what had been released in 2017 under the name Myrholt was old stuff that’d been issued under his previous name Tremors and ‘Vinter’ can be found in places like SoundCloud and Spotify but not necessarily for purchase. So, if nothing else this 18 minute two song EP acts as a nice introduction to this project’s angle on atmospheric black metal that is primarily driven by keyboard/synth that is a few generations removed from Burzum. Kind of like if Vikernes was interested in early Moonsorrow but with some semblance of early Dimmu Borgir driving things.

“Heimdall” has a basic thrust to it with much of the riffing appropriately buried by the keyboard-lead groove the of the track. Though the simple old school atmosphere of the first track is of interest, the EP’s compelling moments for my taste come from “Heiros Gamos”. Though it begins with some relatively standard melodic black metal guitar work an unexpectedly dissonant passage creates a brilliant transition as the song develops toward an even stronger melodic black metal guitar composition. The combination of keyboards and meloblack riffing does start off a bit 1999-ish but the effect is enough that I don’t mind it being somewhat rote. Though I have yet to explore any further releases from this band in the meantime, if future projects echo the dynamics of this EP then Myrholt should be well worthy of a follow in the future.

 Traipsing. 3.0/5.0

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