Enter the bleakly beautiful world of Toronto doom crew Völur

Völur promo pic 2017
(Image credit: Victoria J. Polsoni\/Entre Saisons)

Having dealt with female figures from Germanic lore on their last album, Disir, Toronto’s post-black metal/doom trio Völur are bringing some mythological balance to bear on their forthcoming opus, Ancestors, by turning to their male counterparts.

Released via Prophecy Productions on June 2, Ancestors is the second part of a four-album journey through the far-reaching realms of Teutonic fable, and we have a special preview in the tantalisingly titled 10-minute-long epic, Breaker Of Skulls.

Inspired by the brutal yet lyrical ancient Icelandic warrior poet Egil Skallagrimson, and his epic poem, The Loss Of My Sons, it’s a track that moves from a combative, gnarly sludge riff to a bittersweet and almost beautiful conclusion, all the while riven with a sense of devastated yearning. Aggressive, avant-garde and improvised in parts, this is bleak, heavy doom with a blackened heart. Give yourself to the wrack, ruin and wonder of Breaker Of Skulls below!

Check out Völur’s Facebook page here

And pre-order Ancestors here!

Jonathan Selzer

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.