I like this record. A lot.

It completely refuses to be pigeonholed, and it’s different from anything else I can think of off the top of my head. The UK outfit first reared their heads in 2021 with the Great Migrations EP, even turning up on Channel 4’s Britain’s Most Historic Towns to scream through a 10th-century Icelandic saga on national telly. Because apparently that’s something bands can do now. Fast-forward through a deal with Apocalyptic Witchcraft and Wyrdstæf have finally unleashed Primordial Bloodlines on limited vinyl, CD, cassette and digital formats.

The concept is a deep dive into Mesolithic hunter-gatherer survival, Ice Age megafauna and ancient spirit quests. Sounds like the sort of thing that could become unbearably fucking pretentious, right? Thankfully, it doesn’t. What Wyrdstæf actually deliver is a raw, genuinely ancient soundscape built from throat singing, field recordings and heavy, suffocating noise. They don’t sound like anyone else, but somehow they sound like everything you know. It’s the sort of music you don’t just listen to; you feel the bastard in your bones.

They skip the usual self-indulgent, noodley classical guitar intro designed to prove that there is “emotional depth” before the band remembers they’re supposed to be making metal. Instead, White Spring gets straight to work. It’s a full-blown track that sounds like Tom Waits meeting Tribal Metal in the Stone Age and immediately deciding to have a fucking fight. And it works brilliantly.

Right after that, Great Migrations just kicks you in the balls.

Then Hyperborean arrives with buzzsaw guitars, mental blast beats and vocals that sound as if a thousand demons have just appeared in your bedroom to curse you while you sleep.

Parhelion takes things somewhere entirely shamanistic. It starts with a tribal chant that makes up the bulk of the piece, with barely any conventional music until the final stretch. Without sounding arty or taking the piss, it actually makes you feel like you should be outside fighting a sabre-toothed tiger.

The title track, Primordial Bloodlines, is an atmospheric, ballad-esque piece that stays with you long after the record has ended. It’s another example of how impossible this band is to label. One minute they’re making you feel like you should be standing in a field, dancing around an open fire as the sun goes down; the next they’re tearing your fucking face off with pure brutality, before finishing you off with a piece of music so haunting that it will stay with you long after the record has finished.

Raw, unhinged, totally unpredictable, and apparently allergic to the idea of staying in one fucking genre. If you want something that is utterly unique, and why the fuck wouldn’t you, Primordial Bloodlines by Wyrdstæf is out now.