From Bandcamp, "Askdrömmar" leads us down the empty, moonlit street into the heart of a city; a city that the music builds around us with its haunting blend of atmospheric black metal, melancholic melodies and dark ambient textures. This city is no dormant collection of bricks and metal…it lives, feeding on human emotion, on our avarice and anger, on our desperation as we run like trapped rats through a maze, locked into the bizarre and broken lives we have constructed. This album is overflowing with wonderful songcraft, hypnotic melodies, and incredible, harsh vocals…but it's the emotions they invoke, the visions they inspire, the tangible reality of the environment that they create that make "Askdrömmar" so special. This album offers an experience like no other."

The album has nine songs, and "Mångata" is first, and what strikes me out of the gate is how different the sound is from typical Black Metal…it's dark, tense, and uses discernable riffs and even some electronica in its path downward into the bowels of the earth. The harsh vocals are harsh, and have a shadowy edge to them, and the beat of the music is steady and catchy. "Bortkastade dödsrunor" begins with tense piano tones and a slower moving pace. The mystery of the first song has passed, and we are left with a dark, somber sound that is peppered with aggression. One might even call this Progressive music. "Andas in neonregn" has more of that Black Metal core that you are familiar with, but it's also tinged with Gothic senses, almost like a "Black Metal" THE CURE if you will.

"Gristimmar" has a retro sound from an overdose of synths combined with a crunchy riff. The vocals are raging and tortured of course, but the music moves above it all. "Jag sover" is a dark, undulating song that embraces the night, rather than shying away from it. Again, those THE CURE vibes some in strong for me once more. Add in the piano notes, and you have a smorgasbord of various foods. "Köttkvarn" is a slower grind, and both the melody and the darkness soak down in equal measures. It's a depressive kind of sound that just makes you feel melancholy. "Långt lopp genom mörkret" tosses some electronica into a bowl with a heavy riff and just sits back and watches the two fight, and they roll about in the darkness exchanging blows along the way.

"Brunkebergstunneln" is the final song, and it has a groovy and catchy sound from the synths, and an aggressive sound from the riffs and vocals. The combination of the two make the song sound fierce. This was a fantastic album. Black Metal has grown in leaps and bounds over the past decade, and there isn't one thing that fans haven't embraced lately. Synths? Why not. Gothic and Progressive leanings? Sure, throw them in also. The result is an uncommon but pleasing album that will shake up everything you thought you knew about Black Metal.