From their EPK, “Blackened Brit heavyweights, BAELFYR, set loose their colossal new EP, “Empowered by Hatred,” which lands on Friday 8th August. Unleashing an engulfing sound that is destined to shake you to your core, BAELFYR were formed in 2023, and hail from Peterborough, England. The band comment about the release: “We wanted to create something that retained the rawness and nastiness of the genre but to pull back on some of the aspects present in modern metal, so you won’t find any shredding solos or 300bpm double kicks. Instead, we’ve made an effort to concentrate on memorable riffs and a meaty, and some might say old school, sound.”

“At the Mercy of a Vain God” is first, and it comes out of the gates with gentle, somber tones, and a good deal of tension. An aggressive soundtrack follows, but the slow pace keeps the song in the shadows. “Innocence Defiled” is a hardened slab of Death and Black Metal, and that meaty, old school sound comes through clearly. The guttural vocals add a depth to the sound that descends into Hell. “The Consequence of Endless Expansion” is another low and slow offering, and so far, the band hasn’t show much variety, save for the vocals, which can go from screams to gutturals with ease. The clean passage does add some depth and variegate to the album however. “Under a Starless Sky” is another deep, crawling mid-tempo song, and save for the depth is reaches, it doesn’t offer much new in the genre.

“Rust and Dust” takes the low end power of the album so far and doubles it. It’s a slow grind of super meaty riffs that just wear you down before the end. The breakdown is especially brutal and nasty. “Evil Incarnate” has another thick sound with a filled out background, and this is something that the band does very well. The title track is the final offering, and it’s the first song that develops better from some diversity. This is exactly what I am talking about. This was indeed a riff based, old school amalgam of Death and Black Metal, but some of the mid-tempo pacing kept the album from getting off the ground. It was a solid listening experience, and the band is talented, but if they could work in a little more diversity, it may help the album to become more memorable.