TRELLDOM
… BY THE WORD…
PROPHECY PRODUCTIONS
MAY 29TH, 2026
REVIEWED BY: JASON DEAVILLE
REVIEW SCORE: 9
THE SETUP
If you clicked on this review expecting True Norwegian Black Metal, well, you’ve come to the wrong place. Sure, Trelldom began as a legitimate entry into Nordic black metal. In fact, their first two albums, ’95’s Til evighet… and ’98’s Til et annet, are raw, atmospheric, and fiercely traditional, with the latter even being recorded at the legendary Grieghallen Studios with famed producer Eirik Hundvin (aka Pytten). They wouldn’t appear again for another ten years, releasing their third album, Til minne…, in 2007, which slightly veered from traditional black metal, introducing odd acoustic elements and hints of folk. After this release, the band once again fell off the face of the earth, only to reappear seventeen years later with their fourth full-length, …by the shadows…, an album that pushed further down a non-traditional path. This was in no way the Trelldom of yore. Here we are two years later with another new album, this one titled …by the word…
THE REVIEW
So, to start, it’s too much of a cop out to say that Trelldom has completely abandoned black metal. Yes, the topography is different, but if you were to grab a shovel and dig deep into the Nordic permafrost, you would find the sprawling, decaying roots of black metal. Now, allow me the space to completely contradict myself by emphasizing the word “decaying”, as this album is about as close to black metal as the putrefied rotting corpse of a dead crow stuffed inside the bell of a free-jazz saxophone. I’m gonna go one further and emphasize the word “jazz.” Why? Well, this is probably the closest thing you are gonna get to blackened jazz from Kristian Eivind Espedal (aka Gaahl).
Instead of digging into the album song by song, let us instead look into the ensemble of characters that Gaahl has enlisted for …by the word… (this will surely help paint a picture of the overall vibe of this thing). First, we have guitarist Stian “Sir” Kårstad. He is basically the structural anchor of the band and played on the ’98 and ’07 Trelldom records. His involvement ensures the barest minimum of black metal. His work in bands like Djerv also brings a modern, aggressive edge that keeps things contemporary. Next up is drummer Kenneth Kapstad, formerly of Motorpsycho and Spidergawd. Instead of your typical black metal insanity behind the kit, he brings complex, shifting, highly dynamic rhythmic patterns. Most notably, we have the brilliant saxophonist Kjetil Møster. His inclusion introduces chaotic, brassy dissonance and a free-jazz unpredictability that completely replaces traditional black metal tremolo-picking atmospheres. I should mention that all three also appeared on 2024’s …by the shadows…, with Kjetil now a full-time member (where he was previously enlisted as a session musician). Kjetil has also done some work with Enslaved, guesting on the song ‘Hiindsiight’ from the 2017 album, E. Finally, we have bassist Eirik Øien, who is the latest addition to the fold.
The real winner for me on this one is Gaahl, who expands his immense range of vocals even further into unexplored territories. And it should be noted that this was partly achieved by his return to the famous Grieghallen Studios in Bergen to work again with legendary producer, Pytten. His multilayered, experimental vocal performance moves far beyond what we know of him in Gorgoroth and Gaahls Wyrd. He has pulled the curtain back and revealed a theatrical, unhinged side to his already eclectic persona.
THE VERDICT
In the end, …by the word… likely won’t satiate the appetite of those among you that crave nothing but pure, unabated black metal. Yeah, there might be a moment or two you can sink your sharpened, bloodthirsty fangs into, but for the most part, this is dark, claustrophobic jazz-metal. If you treat it as such, you’ll get yourself a nice heaping dose of twisted, rhythm-driven avant-garde art that proves you don’t need corpsepaint, bullet-belts, lo-fi, and minimalism to be terrifying.
