What is the essence of black metal? Ever since Burzum and Darkthrone stripped standard metal composition from all that they saw as extraneous holdovers from old rock and roll, like solos and chorus sections, to reach a pure and ideal form of black metal, there has been a pervasive minimalist movement that emphasizes the less-is-more approach taken by these two pioneers. Swedish one man act Underjordiska has his own view on the pure sound of black metal and the result is unique. Instead of dialing back on compositional techniques, Underjordiska chose to remove the entire rhythm section. That's right, no bass and, more strikingly, no drums!
Instead there are about three or four guitar layers droning along in all their discordant, semi-melodic splendor. Taking a page from Burzum's Filosofem, Ulver's Nattens Madrigal and the French Black Legions, while also sharing structural similarities with Blut aus Nord's Work Which Transforms God, Drudhk's Forgotten Legends and more recent acts like Verdunkeln and Walknut, the absence of standard rhythm really sets Underjordiska apart from its peers in spite of the many similarities in guitar playing. The only presence of percussion is in the form of cymbal hits to emphasize certain movements in the music and one brief part in the exact center of the album when, after an ominous build-up of seven minutes, the song