Svartsyn is a two piece from Nynäshamn, Sweden who recently released their fourth attack titled Destruction Of Man through Sound Riot Records, based in Portugal. All music and lyrics are written by Ornias, who also recorded all strings and vocals. Only the drums are recorded by another individual by the name of Draugen (ex-Dark Funeral).

They took the time to record all of this as the music was recorded back in June 2002, the vocals half a year later in January 2003. Is Destruction Of Man worth this time? I certainly think so. Svartsyn plays an ancient form of black metal commonly associated with bands like Darkthrone, old Mayhem and other Norwegian bands from the first black metal wave. Svartsyn has a distinctive Norse sound but they don’t betray their roots and blend that Nordic harshness with more melodic parts like for example Dark Funeral does.

The production is good enough, certainly for this type of music.

Instead of hiding their incapability in handling an instrument by means of a terrible production, Svartsyn show confidence in their skills and choose for a more clearer transparent production albeit a bit thin.

Like I said the music is raw ancient black metal mixed with a lot of melody. Throughout the tracks the same riffs are played over and over again with little variation. Instead of becoming boring the tracks gain an ongoing hypnotizing drive because of this repetition. The very strong vocals contribute to the haunting atmosphere that plagues this record. If you long for the ancient times of the early nineties, when black metal was still obscure and underground this is a must-buy.
Svartsyn website