Year: 2025
Label: Misantropia Records

The Swedish suicidalists are back at it. Last year’s mini-album Apostate (review) saw Yritys expand their sound from the most generic DSBM towards an at times more aggressive and traditional black metal sound. The result was an improvement upon 2022’s debut album Delusion(s) (review).

As I’ve said before, DSBM has never been my favourite subgenre of black metal. In fact, it’s one of the few I usually don’t give the time of day to. However, coming from a subgenre that’s somewhat distasteful to me in many ways, Yritys have thus far managed to create even surprisingly decent material.

Second full-length album Mors Mecum Ambulat feels like an amalgamation of Delusion(s) and Apostate. It’s not quite as generic in its approach as the debut, but takes a few steps back into pure DSBM territory. At the same time, it does not forsake all of the more straightforward and somewhat more traditional black metal sound of the mini-album.

This means that for every section of blasting, sawing aggression, there is at least one passage of calm, tender atmospherics and depressedly melodic despair. Typical if not downright generic anguished wails alternate with surprisingly violent, antagonistic snarls. Throw in some slightly discordant riffs and keep things mostly mid-tempo, and you might start to anticipate what Mors Mecum Ambulat sounds like.

Well, I’m still not a believer – in DSBM, that is. The more Yritys approach a traditional DSBM sound, the less I care for the album. However, conversely, the more they distance themselves from that, and instead explore a form of existentially claustrophobic, world-hating black metal, the more the Mors Mecum Ambulat appeals to me.

So, for example, the title track with its hysterical wails and depressively tragic lead guitar doesn’t do anything for me. On the other hand, with far more violent vocals and more aggressive music, Puncturing Skin sounds far better to my ears.

Still, Yritys can’t fully escape the pitfalls of DSBM. Particularly the lyrical department is alien, perhaps even slightly repulsive to me. Lyrics about a hatred for life that comes across as quite powerless; of an existential self-contempt; of willful and pointless self-destruction are just not something I can relate to. The same applies to the atmospherics of the album: too often they come across as wallowing in self-pity and self-disgust. I just can’t get with that.

But if you can, I’m wagering Yritys will be right up your alley. Distancing myself from my predilections, it’s obvious that Yritys remain a strong proponent of their subgenre. They remain rooted in its conventions, but dare to reach outside of them too. Mors Mecum Ambulat finds a balance between the almost post-punk melodicism so typical to many DSBM acts, and offsets it with the dark aggression of less maudlin strands of black metal.

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