Jarnvidr are a Normandy-based two-piece, consisting of guitarist / drummer Vastara and bass player / vocalist Alrinack. The latter is involved with lots of other projects too, such as Suicidal Madness, Uluun, Asphodeles, Blukovla etc. He’s also the guy behind Loup Noir, a solo-project of Alrinack that participated on the five-way split The Antichristian Symphonies, released via Satanath too, and reviewed recently + updated on September 21st 2014.
Passeur Du Temps, the sole album by this duo, was recorded in 2012 and lasts for just over forty minutes. It comes in an edition of 666 copies (I promised myself not to go deeper into this…).
With this album, Jarnvidr bring a very primal / primitive form of Second Wave-inspired Black Metal with some Epic / Viking-sounding elements (cf. the trem leads on Delectation, which breathe the epic grandeur of, for example, Kampfar, Hades (Almighty), (very) early Satyricon or Forgotten Woods, and even early Desaster or Bathory). It sounds melodic yet, especially, atmospheric, without losing a focus on grimness, bleakness and darkness. This goes for the song writing (lacking of modern additions, yet rather focusing on the basic elements from the Glorious Past) as well as the performance (no need to play as technical and progressive as possible, yet maintaining the elementary essence of Old), yet also for the sound. And about the latter I cannot say least than some words of gratitude. The production is totally lo-fi, dry as pulverized skulls, and denying any trendy influence. …which might also cause some irritation, for the mix in between the different players (and then I am not referring to the members, yet to the instruments, vocals inclusive) is poorly balanced, and the final result sounds (way too) hollow and thin (where are the bass lines, for instance?).