“Many die too late, and some die too early. Yet strange soundeth the precept: ‘Die at the right time!’ … In your dying shall your spirit and your virtue still shine like an evening after-glow around the earth: otherwise your dying hath been unsatisfactory.” ~ Nietzsche
The legendary Kim Carlsson surprised us with his masterpiece of a return on November 11 — Consider Suicide’s Gudalik II, which was recorded with the prolific Déhà in 2019. Now, Consider Suicide is unleashing yet another work of profound beauty on Carlsson’s label Unjoy — Art & Ritualia. Tracked by Carlsson and Déhà in Belgium this year, Avstånd, or “Distance,” has finally arrived. Verily, Avstånd grants perspective, mentally removing us from the rabble and other trivialities, allowing for the clarity afforded by solitude. However, this miraculous offering permits no emotional distance, forcing us to totally merge with it and become active participants. A truly inspired album, Avstånd instantly grips us in its talons and holds us in its firm clasp until the very end.
If you expected anything short of brilliance from Mr. Kim Carlsson, you clearly aren’t familiar with his accomplishments and perhaps have been distracted by whatever commercial garbage is being peddled by most radio stations these days. Carlsson has achieved fame due to his immortal work with the pioneering Lifelover and Hypothermia. His superhuman talents have manifested themselves through other equally dazzling vessels as well: A Symphony to the Void, Horns Emerging, Ritualmord, and Life Is Pain. Ultimately, comparisons can be drawn between Carlsson’s different projects, which all burn with ingenuity, authenticity, and overpowering emotion while bearing their own distinctive essences that set them apart from one another.
Consider Suicide tends to produce highly meditative music tied to nostalgia and specific places. As Carlsson told Din Întunerec: “My goal is to change the definition of genres, which is only possible by creating our own.” And as he stated in conversation with us: “Even if I make an acoustic album, it’s going to be more black metal than most people record nowadays because the emotion will be there.” With Consider Suicide, Carlsson certainly destroys preconceptions relating to genres.
By following his own path, he exposes us to something of the blackest order, thereby making a joke out of all but his comrades at the very top of the extreme music pyramid. While Consider Suicide’s gems, unlike some of Carlsson’s other opuses, lie far from what one would typically consider to be extreme music in form, they are actually more extreme by virtue of their undeniable psychological effects and more.
Avstånd consists of two parts — the nearly 20-minute “Hålrum” and the almost 24-minute title piece. Carlsson thus defined the word “Hålrum”: “‘void,’ or… something that is hollow, or the feeling of hollowness. So, of course, that is connected to the feeling of distance and having a self-imposed distance. It’s kind of my pandemic album, but instead of releasing it during it like everyone else, I did it years later.” The whole of Avstånd amounts to a perfectly chiseled and flowing musical triumph with bewitching guitars, organic ambience, ethereal synths, beats that pound at the door of your consciousness with just the right touch, and so forth.
It would be impossible to describe this invigorating and liberating dance through the forest on intensely magical mushrooms; Avstånd induces an altered state of mind, providing an epic spiritual trip akin to what can normally only be attained with the assistance of mind-altering substances. After all, Consider Suicide’s debut record was dubbed Sväva (2015), which means “levitate,” and the project’s releases in general will impart the sensations of doing exactly that, prompting out-of-body experiences. If it is possible to state, Avstånd is a journey both inward and outward: It sets you on a spiral path around the vortex to and away from your center. It will likely prompt your soul to furiously search, bringing you in touch with your innermost thoughts and compelling you to reflect upon your personal calling and choices.
Indeed, Avstånd is everything. Delivering truly new experiences, Avstånd appeals to sentiments too nuanced to pinpoint; it encompasses wistful melancholy, loss, hope, excitement, yes, but also what lies beyond these states. In a sense, this instrumental album dissolves words and allows us to surrender to its waves of passion, purifying our minds, thereby stimulating more honest thoughts. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but Carlsson presents us with endless pictures. Granted, Avstånd may be compared to a Rorschach inkblot. What it makes you see, where it takes you, and how you interpret it can potentially vary each time and based on the individual.
Full of shifts executed with balletic grace, in addition to opening the portal to previously unfelt sensations, Avstånd might just amplify whatever moods have already taken overtaken you. What cannot be denied, however, is that, somber as this album can seem, it is likewise tons of fun. Dare I suggest, it even intoxicates us with the artful inclusion of exhilarating party-like vibes, perhaps stemming from the joy of isolation. Physically speaking, Avstånd will likely both paralyze you and charge you up, provoking something reminiscent of a giddy frenzy at times.
Ultimately, Avstånd, with its divine light, offers an awakening, a dawning, an epiphany reminiscent of the lovely feeling of coming back to this wretched planet after trying to imbibe of the waters of Lethe but temporarily ending up in a dreamworld-purgatory instead. Avstånd cleanses me of anger and mental dirt, giving way to the possibility of humility. It precipitates an eerie sort of delirium in which the truth is often found. It calms yet, at times, causes a racing and pierced heart as well as the accompanying anxiety of the type that philosophers so often praise. When I listen to Avstånd, I remember what has value to me and realize how badly I erred in 2024, thus making the record an ideal year-end gift.
And now, a question for you, esteemed readers: When was the last time you considered suicide? Such mental dialogues can be an important way to motivate yourself to achieve your best and courageously confront the realities that most people try to push away with shallow and pathetic comforts. I confirm that the optimal way to consider suicide is with the guidance of Kim Carlsson.
Update: After finishing this review, I, of course, continued listening to this album for the pure pleasure, and I have to say: I genuinely think it’s one of the best things I’ve heard.
Avstånd is available to order at this location.
Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available. In the U.S., dial 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
