SVEDERNA is a Black Metal band based out of Sweden. The new album title, translated to English as 'Hearth', symbolically stands for a sacred place where everything melts and only the truth remains. For the third time, recording and production took place in the remote wilderness of their native Värmland, Sweden, with longtime collaborator Lars Robin Larsson Asp. With the addition of permanent bass player Simon Frödeberg Karlin, SVEDERNA has come full circle with four instrumentalists writing and performing at the peak of their competence in a group effort. Created with a sense of timelessness and this strong core as an outset, 'Härd' is a result of dedication and conviction taking the band and its music to new musical plains, while expanding deeper into the black metal foundation the band wields steep, unpredictable and more. The album contains ten tracks.

"Den Arkaiska Rotan" leads off the album. It opens with a pretty traditional Black Metal sound, and raging vocals. The riff ventures out just a bit here and there. "Folkets Blod" brings more of the old school Black Metal sound to the table...horrid vocal screams, and that wall of guitars and drums. Sometimes the riff takes on additional layers which is nice, but overall, this is pretty much your standard FWOBM sound. It changes course a bit around the half-way mark, with the bass guitar dancing around. "Skuld Och Vita Knogar" features unfortunately more of the same sound. Black Metal can normally go one of two ways...traditional old school, or new school, where other elements are added for enjoyment. This is the old school method, which has been done and overdone.

"Fortigen" features some pretty fierce vocals, and an unrelenting guitar assault. It lets up just for a few moments, but the sound is pretty harrowing. "Nidr" is more of the same, as the songs on the album begins to bleed together. I just don't understand the need for so much homogeneousness. "Skuld Och Vita Knogar" is very similar to the other songs in pacing and structure, though it does have a slightly better groove in the vocals. The riff changes a bit, bringing more might and power to the table. "Sanndrömmar Om Evigt Lidande" is the first song where we get a little variation. Clean guitars roll forth in a melancholy setting, the break we needed from the previous madness. "Urkvedsljuset" is over six minutes of chaos reigning fire down to the earth. It does have some riff changes here and there and also some vocal changes.

"Varsel" has more of the same elements as previous tracks, but the vocals change a bit...mostly to shouts. I really do not get much of the "unexpected" elements that the band boasts about above...in fact, quite the opposite. "Androm Till Skräck Och Varnagel" closes the album, ending the listening experience for me that was disappointing. One thing I just don't understand, is why some Black Metal bands insist on living in the past, when the whole point of music is to push the envelope. Even within the genre, there are great variations permitted...see ASIRA or UNREQVITED. This is just too old school and normative for me.