Tryglav is a Croatian black/death project of one man, Boris Behara, formed in 2018, "Night…" his very first recording to date. The music oscilates somewhere between Dissection (melodic brutal black) and Hypocrisy (melodic midpaced death) but not as ambitiously drawn as either one.

According to Encyclopedia Metallum, while alone in the studio Boris hires four anonymous "plague doctors" as a live band members. The studio material was expertly produced and mixed by Boris himself, except vocals. Behara originally planned to do the vocals himself, but due to poor equipment for recording vocals, he entrusted Igor "Morbid" Buljin (Black Cult) to do them according to Behara’s lyrics and patterns. This is notworthy because he makes this studio effort sound like a regular 4-5 member band, which is one of the album’s strongest assets.

The album is a rather short 7 track affair (36:10), but that does not stop Boris from striking a very good balance throughout, using all ranges of black and death metal. Thus, while the opener "Under My Skin" (having nothing to do with Fred Astaire/Bono Vox romantic croons) is a sharp brutal barely melodic Hypocrisy goes Ravencult scorcher, already the title track slows down for a much more melodic "The Final Chapter" or "Hypocrisy" constitution, followed by an even slower and moodier "Deadline" which is a great place to usher in the musically and lyrically early Deceased sounding "Evil Dead", all with Morbid’s typical black rasps tinged with an early Anders Frieden (In Flames) elongations. Seemingly, then, this is superbly written and executed deathened black deserving high accolades.

The problem shows up already on "Deadline". Sure it is melodic and slightly changing throughout but it is as if Boris was not even trying, that’s how safe and basic it sounds, and there’s simply no reason for it to be almost 6 minutes long. While "Deadline" is the worst offender, all songs suffer from this minimalistic approach to some degree. Could this be one of those instances where less is really less?

Far from a black/death revelation, "Night Of Whispering Souls" is an enjoyable if formulaic record with strong minimalistic tendencies. Boris Behara is a skilled producer and instrumentalist and a competent, promising songwriter and I expect him to positively surprise me on the follow-up.

https://tryglav.bandcamp.com/