Review by Jeger on October 28, 2026.

The embattled Urgehal… Since the ripest days of the Second Wave of Black Metal, this band, through tragedy, has maintained their status as an elite presence on the Norwegian Scene. Co-founding member, Lead Guitarist/Vocalist, Trondr Nefas, met his untimely demise in 2012 due to what's been stated by the band as "natural causes in his sleep." Something there doesn't add up, but then again who am I to say anything different? The important thing is the legacy of staunch Scene dominance that this band has left in its wake. Iconic albums like Urgehal's debut LP, "Arma Christi", "Goatcraft Torment" and their latest LP, "Aeons In Sodom", all speak to the passion and seething hatred of the collective. The latter took four years and a number of guest Artists to finally realize. Urgehal split after its release, but have reformed a couple of times to perform live in commemoration of their fallen founder and to celebrate the anniversary of "Goatcraft Torment". To pick up all the pieces and to put the band back together in some shape or form would be a complicated, delicate matter; a task better fit perhaps for people who are not Black Metal bastards…

Taking into consideration the reality that Urgehal is the most talented Norwegian band in regard to guitar play outside of maybe Emperor or Tsjuder and given their long-running status as Second Wave Progenitors, it is easy to say that Urgehal is also the most underrated Norwegian Black Metal band; overshadowed by the likes of Mayhem, Satyricon, Emperor and Gorgoroth. Behind Trondr on rhythm guitar is Enzifer, and the combination of these two guitar Aficionados brings power, depth and harmony to the proverbial table, all the while as most other Norse BM endeavors reap dry, one-dimensional albums. This was never the case with Urgehal as evidenced by their latest or better yet, their debut, the above-mentioned "Arma Christi", that when compared to a lot of what the Norwegian scene was pumping out back then just feels like a breath of fresh air. But if you dig a little deeper into Urgehal's discography, through the filth and the fire, you'll no doubt discover 2003's "Through Thick Fog Till Death" - this great band's magnum opus, although most would argue that the honor of best album should belong to "2008's "Ikonoklast".

With "Through Thick Fog Till Death", Urgehal  sever all ties with decency, the Divine or any other sort of wholesome notion and they do it while in their prime! Yes, a broken-in band functioning at max capacity and relishing in the fire of younger days whilst laying the blasphemies down thick. And that is why TTFTD is my go-to from this band. Every great Metal band has their "Master of Puppets" and for me, this is it for Urgehal. Genuinely Satanic, true fucking Black Metal in the form of simple yet brilliant tracks like the explosive "Possessed (Raped By Evil)", which, following a brief foreboding intro in "666" unfolds to impossible momentum as propelled by maniacal blasts and that dual guitar attack just imploding the atmosphere with planetary core-level density; gravity is the word. An impossible force of Nature much like the energy here.

Three tracks with Satan in the title… Does it get any more compelling? And the overall sound/style of play is so conducive to the theme. Midway through, you will discover "Mirror Satan", and with every second you're drawn deeper and deeper in to the point of no return, to the point of understanding that this track and all the others sound and feel exactly the way Black Metal was always meant to sound and feel. Wild and murderous like "Satanic Deathlust" or frigid and hopeless like "Dead Cold December". The latter just drags you through the moments like drifting through one of those really depressing dreams that isn't frightful but somehow very disturbing, just before Urgehal gets back to the business at hand: a high-energy diabolical assault on your reality. 56 minutes worth of Christ-raping Black Metal carnage.

Urgehal is supposedly active as a band, although I'm unaware of any said action. Some things just die and attempts at resuscitating them can only feel wrong. Like burying your loved one in that Indian burial ground in Pet Sematary. They come back, but in grotesque, unrecognizable form. The discography as it stands today is one that you don't really want to fuck around with anyway. It's a roll of the dice: be remembered by "Aeons In Sodom" or a record that will likely end up sounding like something not akin to Urgehal's historically organic approach to the craft. Only time will tell… Until then?

Rating: 10 out of 10

Review by Aaron on July 15, 2005.

Right to brass tacks; Urgehal are ugly. Ugly, ugly people making ugly,ugly old school Norwegian Black Metal for ugly, ugly reasons. The minute you look at the cover of Through Thick Fog Til Death, a truly grim black and white photo of guitarist Enzifier looking like one of the Cenobites from Hellraiser cutting into some poor, winsome girl in a graveyard, you know this is not going to appeal to higher aesthetics of beauty. This is a good(?) thing, as beauty has no place in this collection of odes to Satan, Blasphemy and the eradication of the few billion souls who unfortunately share the planet with them.

Urgehal take the driving tempo of Carpathian Forest and mix it with the chill atmosphere of A Blaze in the Northern Sky-era Darkthrone for a truly demented onslaught. Originally including a keyboardist in the lineup, Urgehal eliminated the keyboard and are no worse off for it. Indeed, after listening to Through Thick Fog Til Death I don’t see how keyboards could do anything but detract from the overall atmosphere of the music. Drummer Uruz (of Crest of Darkness) and bassist Sregroth lay down an incessant blackened thrash gallop that the raging guitars both trample on top of and alongside. Frontman Trondr delivers songs of hate and sacrilege in graveled, harsh rasps that bear no indication of the falsetto shrieks that have become more and more commonplace in Black Metal today. This alone makes me as happy as such music is capable of. Hearing someone keening like they’re pulling straight down on their nuts with every word does not make me think “Necro”.

Tracks such as “Mirror Satan”, “Mankind Murder” and “Supreme Blasphemy” give testimony to the pure hate that drives the band. The 15 track album also includes four live songs which give brutal examples of the band’s live endeavors to be just as punishing as their recordings, standouts there being “Flames of the Black Candles” and “The Eternal Eclipse” which is an incredibly nasty piece that is worth the purchase price itself.

Through Thick Fog Til Death is bound to be one of those just under the radar albums that will only gain the credit and hails it deserves on the underground level. Somehow I get the impression that this is right where Urgehal wants it. Fantastic album.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 10
Production: 7
Originality: 7
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.4 out of 10