20 Best Metal Albums Of Summer 2017

It seems somewhat ironic for Völur's sophomore record Ancestors to enjoy a summer release, as every single second of it perpetuates the dreary, depressive, barren tone of a snowy winter's landscape.

As a record, it conjures forth images like the hostile North of Game of Thrones, the empty, mysterious Arctic pictured in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or The Shining's ominous Overlook Hotel. It is a seamless fusion of black metal, doom rock and the avant-garde, crafting its despondent tones not through archetypal electric guitars or over-the-top nihilism: instead, the musicianship of Ancestors revolves around both the upright and electric bass, a wide array of percussion, choir vocals and, most notably of all upon the first listen, the violin.

An almost-hour-long CD with only four songs to be found on it (each split into anywhere between four and six movements), Ancestors is a record that answers the qualms of those begging to hear something new within metal's scape. As great as other entries in this list are, Völur's is the only one thus far that feels whole-heartedly original, devoid of prior aural influence and truly existing within its own abrasive, snowy bubble.

It's a tribal, fluid experience, yet also impressively complex. It is almost impossible for words to do it justice.