
Minnesota one-man black metal project Inexorum aren’t a well-known quantity — mainman Carl Skildum doesn’t even have a Metal Archives site yet — but the group’s debut album, Lore Of The Lakes, will quickly change that. Informed by and generating music in the spirit of the early works of Naglfar, Sacramentum, and Dawn, while being inspired by Minnesota’s 11,842 — according to Minnesota DNR stats — lakes and surrounding nature, Inexorum are the Midwest’s answer to mid-’90s blackened Swedish death metal. And they join fellow North Star staters Obsequiae, Ashbringer, False, and Panopticon in waterbody and arboreal splendor.
Lore Of The Lakes ponders, wanders, and strikes at the heart of Minnesota. It feels like a walk through Nemadji State Forest, a long wade in Lake Minnetonka, and smells like a fresh mix of Basswood, Elm, and Ash leaves. Sounds positively Tolkien-esque, but it’s absolutely like Inexorum’s Northern-inspired black. Says Inexorum’s Skildum: “I’m excited to share the debut of Lore of the Lakes. I spent the winter and spring of 2017 holed up in my attic working on a batch of songs that catered to my longtime fascination with the melodic black and death metal that made such an impression on me in the ’90s. I’ve recorded a handful of records with full bands over the years but had never considered just building up a batch of songs on my own until now, and it actually turned out to be a very rewarding challenge. The howling winter winds outside my window helped keep me focused, and provided a constant reminder of the vast power and beauty of nature in my home state of Minnesota. I’m very grateful to Gilead Media for bringing the album to life, and to my friend Matt Kirkwold who played bass and mixed the album.”
With great reverence to the state of Minnesota, here’s Inexorum’s Lore Of The Lakes.