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Draugnim have returned, nine years after the excellent Vulturine, a captivating blend of blackened pagan metal that evoked the sound of Emperor and Moonsorrow. In contrast to that album, Draugnim lets the black metal take command on Verum Malum, which means you won't get anything quite like the epic and melodic "As in Hunger, so in Demise" or "Drums of Black Death" here. Instead, after a minute-long intro, "Traitor's Crown" explodes in a torrent of riffs and blasting drums, maintaining a relentless pace for nearly nine minutes. It's different, but the good kind of different, because Draugnim write black metal nearly as well as they write pagan metal.

A few aspects stand out immediately in the opener: the production is much crisper than on previous releases, and Chimedra's powerful, raspy growls are more prominent in the mix. This complements the more aggressive style they go for here.

When I first heard "Traitor's Crown," I wondered if this was a one-off, or if the if the rest of the album would follow the path of Vulturine. It clearly doesn't. The next three songs follow a similar formula, with the highlight being the blistering "Lifescorn." The tempo then slows down a bit on "Aeon" and particularly on album finale "Deeds of Strife." Both songs feature massive-sounding riffs accompanied by slow drums, building the album to a crushing conclusion. While these two final songs are not as interesting to me as the first four, they are no less aggressive and provides a nice touch of variation as the album winds down.

Perhaps because I've spun Vulturine to death, I was initially a little disappointed with the direction Draugnim took here. However, that impression quickly faded after a couple of listens, as I came to realize that Verum Malum is a really good album. There's a strong Emperor vibe here with the eerie (but never dominant) synth overlays, and if you like Emperor, or bands like Havukruunu (albeit a little less frenetic), you will certainly enjoy this one.