So I was watching a fun YouTube video about how most Black Metal sound demonic and evil, but the lyrics can often be about surprisingly sensitive things, you know, like love and nature and happiness. The point was just because music sounds evil doesn’t actually mean it is evil. Case in point: The latest album by JORD, Emellan Träden, comprises mostly love songs. Granted they’re dark love songs that include betrayal, murder, and the most evil of all—unrequited love—and there are also tracks about trolls and war and, well, demons, but it’s not all demonic and evil. It’s also really good.

Emellan Träden is the fourth and latest full-length album from JORD, the Atmospheric Black Metal band out of Sweden and not the acoustic rock guy from Australia. The album gets released on September 5, 2025 via Hammerheart Records. It spans nine tracks and easily clears the 50-minute mark. Most tracks are north of five minutes, affording ample space for the band to craft and develop each composition.

Highlights include “Den brandgula salen” a track about the dark fey or undying devotion or just another love song, I don’t know, the lyrics seem fairly ambiguous to me, but the music is straight on solid; I also really enjoy “The Grave and Chain,” a melodic morality tale including a tomb, a dark lake, and a demon; “Stay” also makes my list of standout tracks for being so damned touching. Again, not what you expect in Black Metal, but there it is.

It's been truly interesting watching JORD progress, especially over the last five years as they’ve evolved to the heavier side of Atmospheric Black Metal. With Emellan Träden, JORD maintains the momentum and trajectory they established with their 2023 Tundra. This might be their best to date.