ALBUM REVIEW: Nidingr - "The High Heat Licks Against Heaven"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date released: 16/06/2017

Label: Seasons of Mist

Given the amount of average extreme music that is available, Nidingr’s release is outstanding for such depth alone.

"The High Heat Licks Against Heaven" CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Hangaguð

2. Surtr

3. The Ballad of Hamther

4. On Dead Body Shore

5. Gleipnir

6. Sol Taker

7. Ash Yggdrasil

8. Heimdalargaldr

9. Valkyries Assemble

10. Naglfar Is Loosed

The Review:

The long shadow of Norwegian black metal’s most brutal off-stage moments are the stuff of countless thinkpieces, documentaries and books. Such history is deceptive, because the mainstream merely gets grist for tabloid headlines while a scene that is vibrant as it is seminal to the global metal ecosystem goes underappreciated.

Borre-based outfit Nidingr bear a claim to Norwegian black metal’s story. Formed as Audr in 1992, the project of Morten Iversen has been bruising heads with its caustic edge to the music. Maybe such a sound for Nidingr is not completely unexpected. Iversen counts Gorgoroth, Orcustus, Mayhem and other acts on his resume. As you think about that experience, you might wonder why Nidingr is considered or classifies itself in the black metal camp. Herein lies a curious departure in this tale.

What makes Nidingr such a unique part of metal in Europe is the influences you hear in its sound over time. Go back and listen to the crew’s past releases and you will most assuredly hear doom metal, crust punk and even some non-extreme orchestration in its songs. Lyrically, the band fits well into the subgenre, creating often horrific imagery. Iversen and company are not above pushing the musical boundaries, however.

Your first trip through "The High Heat Licks Against Heaven" is a relentless experience. The hefty drum and bass throughout the recording makes every track particularly foreboding and intense. The bark of vocalist Cpt. Estrella Grasa snatches you almost immediately. Grasa, the pseudonym of Alf Almén, snarls outward with the essence of Norwegian black metal stylings, but is wholly original. You might catch some inspiration from punk in parts of the vocal in "The Ballad of Hamther" and other moments. Mathcore elements dot "On Dead Body Shore" as well. Credit Almén for his creativity behind the microphone. He’s giving a performance that will please the casual listener, while giving the metal music snob something to marvel at. Given the amount of average extreme music that is available, Nidingr’s release is outstanding for such depth alone.

One of the standout selections fans will put on repeat is "Gleipnir" – even though the opening will possibly make you turn your head and ask, ‘what the fuck is this?’ It is sandwiched between the previously mentioned "Shore" and the similarly hard charging "Sol Taker" yet sound like neither in the slightest. Instead, there’s a strong hint of doom. Either way, it is exceptional, as is one of the other doom/sludge tracks, "Ash Yggdrasil." You, in fact, may find black metal on the full-length, but there’s more here than meets the eye.

"The High Heat Licks Against Heaven" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Oathbreaker - "Rheia"

By: Jay Hampshire

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 30/09/2016

Label: Deathwish Inc

While it seems like each year there are those one or two records that gather attention or praise, then fade into obscurity once their impact wanes, “Rheia” is an album of such purpose and conviction that it is hard to see the impact it has had diminish any time soon. While this florid, high praise might seem sycophantic or overly subjective, trust in this: “Rheia” really is that good.

“Rheia” CD//DD//LP track listing: 

1. 10:56
2. Second Son of R.
3. Being Able to Feel Nothing
4. Stay Here / Accroche-Moi
5. Needles in Your Skin
6. Immortals
7. I’m Sorry, This Is
8. Where I Live
9. Where I Leave
10. Begeerte

The Review:

If you’ve even taken a cursory glance at a metal magazine, website or outlet since September, chances are you will have caught some of the furore surrounding Oathbreaker’s latest release, third studio album “Rheia”. Possibly one of the most lauded records of the last twelve months, by critics and fans alike, the Belgian blackened-hardcore crew have spawned a record that has grabbed metal’s collective consciousness by taloned feet, pricking up the ears of even the most dour and resistant to innovation.

It’s an album of subtlety and brute force, married together through heel-turn dynamic shifts and crafty song writing. Opener ’10:56’ eases us in with more of the former, with Caro Tanghe’s lilting, fragile vocals nestled among a quivering swell of rising feedback. ‘Second Son Of R.’ has no such airs and graces, immediately whipping you away on a torrent of frantic, tremolo picked riffs, blast beats and Tanghe’s envenomed shrieks. It’s a breathless, jarring shift that smooths out, dropping into gentle guitars and clean vocals, before the instrumentation spreads wide and tumbles once more into a dense, manic drive.

‘Being Able To Feel Nothing’ is rampant from the off, with the kind of thick, rushing black metal intro you’d expect from a Gorgoroth track, before the ethereal wail of the vocals enters and the song settles into a deep set groove. Things shift and change organically, winding down into sparse drums, breathy vocals and lush guitars. Tanghe’s delivery, soft and almost sweet, sits in stark contrast to the brutal serial-killer imagery of the lyrics. Cannily used negative space ushers in a slower, predatory section, dripping with malice. ‘Stay Here / Accroche-Moi’ gives off an intimate, almost live vibe, looping, mournful acoustic guitar and wearied yet stoic vocals. It changes very little over its runtime, but holds and commands attention throughout.

‘Needles In Your Skin’ unsettles with backmasked guitar before locking into a slow, sultry shuffle, restrained, groaning vocals adding an air of exhausted malice. It sharply builds into icy blasts of tremolo riffs and blastbeats, driving in hard like broken glass. ‘Immortals’ is a prime contender for ‘track of the album’, an easier pace and haunting, layered vocals adding a lot of breathing room, alternating between this mode and gasps of snare abusing drums, walls of riff and manic shrieks. It acts as a microcosm of the whole record, blooming with equal parts drama, melancholy and savagery, before a sparkling clean guitar loop adds hope towards the climax, like the last flittering contents of an opened Pandora ’s Box.

‘I’m Sorry, This Is’ tolls malevolently, rising synth tones and uneasy breathing adding threat to a sample of many voices that fades in, a spacious noise scape of entwining layers. It acts as an elongated intro to ‘Where I Live’, which rises from whining feedback and bursts into a soaring, grinding drive. Vocal motes echo, as if at the peripheral edges of your mind, and frantic cymbal work builds up into a whipping, rushing frenzy. A pacey, relentless, clattering aural assault that ends with smoky, ghostly synths and noise.

‘Where I Leave’ is born from jangling guitars and droning, fragile synths, punctuated by big statements of dour piano chords. Grunty bass undertows delicate upper harmonies, and deliberate drums evolve into an implacable slow groove. It’s moody, to say the least, towing wistful vocals and simple repetitions in its wake. Closer ‘Begeerte’ is disarming; initially comprised of haunting, wailing vocal layering, it is joined by sparse, breathy guitar plucking and crunching electro runs. As it began so the album ends, with a softened whimper, not a roaring shout.

It’s nigh impossible to fully encapsulate what Oathbreaker have conjured with “Rheia” in print. It is a shifting, dynamic piece, unconcerned with expectation or limitation. Think back to when you saw that band, or heard that album, that had an impact you simply could not fully process, an effect you couldn’t accurately describe with words. While it seems like each year there are those one or two records that gather attention or praise, then fade into obscurity once their impact wanes, “Rheia” is an album of such purpose and conviction that it is hard to see the impact it has had diminish any time soon. While this florid, high praise might seem sycophantic or overly subjective, trust in this: “Rheia” really is that good.

“Rheia” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

FFO: Deafheaven, Bosse-de-Nage, Alcest, The Secret

ALBUM REVIEW: Satyricon - “Nemesis Divina” (Reissue)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length (Reissue)
Date Released: 20/05/2016
Label: Napalm Records

This album does to me what people describe psychedelic drugs as doing for them. In my opinion this is mandatory listening. There are precious few albums that matter this much to me, and I can only hope that if someone hears this album for the first time this year, it has the same kind of impact on them that it’s had on me.

“Nemesis Divina” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1.The Dark of a New Age
2.Forhekset
3.Mother North
4.Du som hater Gud
5.Immortality Passion
6.Nemesis Divina
7.Tanscendental Requiem of Slaves

The Review:

I know it’s supposed to be poor form to write about yourself when writing about an album. “Nobody cares about you, they care about the album!” is a recurring point made on Twitter. I get it, and when we’re talking about new albums, I usually agree with it. Please know that if you’re strict about that particular rule, this isn’t going to be for you. I don’t really have a structure for this, nor do I have any direction. I’m just going to write about an album that’s meant more to me than virtually any other. I’m writing about ‘Nemesis Divina’, an album in its 20th year of existence, recently reissued via Napalm Records. I’m going to talk about why this album matters so much to me, and why I regard it as being one of the best black metal albums ever made. If that’s not interesting to you, close the tab and no hard feelings. Fair enough? Ok, let’s get started.

As was the case with a lot of the bigger second wave black metal albums of the 90s, I found out about ‘Nemesis Divina’ through a compilation CD. In this case it was the ‘Gods of Darkness’ compilation, which was issued by Nuclear Blast in 1997, the same year the album got its release in the United States. Back then, the US often got black metal albums quite a bit later than Europe. Many of these great albums didn’t see broader distribution in the US until Century Black came to the rescue and became the North American home of some of the greatest black metal albums of all time. Along with ‘Nemesis Divina’, Century Black was the American home for Mayhem’s ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’, Emperor’s ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’ and ‘Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk’, Ulver’s ‘Nattens Madrigal’, Gorgoroth’s first three albums, and so many others. That black metal imprint for Century Media was so vital to making prime Norwegian black metal available throughout the US that it almost can’t be overstated.

The song featured on ‘Gods of Darkness’ was, as you’d expect, “Mother North”. In the 19 years or so that I’ve been listening to ‘Nemesis Divina’, the song went from being my favorite, to over-playing it and getting burnt out on it, to then coming back around to appreciating and understanding why people love it so much. “Mother North” is among the most popular black metal songs of the nineties. When it comes down to it, the reasons for its popularity are pretty simple. It’s loaded with hooks, and Satyr’s vocals are comprehensible enough that people can learn—and follow along with—the lyrics.

I’ll admit that my 16 year old self might have found occasion once or twice to put on my most dour black metal face and bellow “Sometimes in the dead of the night, I mesmerize my soul…” in front of a mirror. In the previous decade, high school kids were lip syncing and air guitaring to Maiden or Priest. But for me, it was hours upon hand drumming on my knees to ‘Nemesis Divina’ or ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’. It was easy to romanticize Norwegian black metal as a teenager, even with all of the violence. But that was a non-factor with Satyricon. They weren’t really a part of the drama that surrounded Mayhem, Burzum, and Emperor. They were just a band. The music on ‘Nemesis Divina’ created it’s own mystique.

In terms of knowing about the band itself, I really only had photos in the CD booklet to go off of. The photo of Satyr, Frost, and Nocturno Culto (credited as Kveldulv on this album) in front of what, in retrospect, a ridiculous blue family photo/school picture backdrop. Satyr is seated upon an old wooden chair with markings along the sides and thrusting a partially intact skull toward the camera. Frost and Nocturno Culto stand beside him, wielding stylized axes, and Frost is decked out in some of the most unwieldy spiked gauntlets ever worn by arms. They were basically just giant nails in place of where the half inch spikes had been. It was ludicrous. At 16, I imagined Satyricon were just like that all the time. They didn’t have jobs or families or pets or regular human lives. Instead, they just lived in a secluded Norwegian forest, where they dedicated all their time to black metal and ancillary activities. 16 year old me didn’t want to think about Satyr ordering a coffee, or Nocturno Culto punching a clock and working like I would do the following year. I was like a young child who watches pro wrestling and doesn’t really understand that wrestlers were often very different from the personas they played on television.

But all these years later, none of the image or package has anything more than a passing nostalgic value. Today, the music is what matters. Sure, it’s the music that conjures those fanciful memories, but more than anything it’s about the constant realization while listening to it, that Satyr, Frost and Nocturno Culto captured lightning in a bottle back in 1996. ‘Nemesis Divina’ is one of the few albums, of the thousands of albums I’ve owned and thousands more that I’ve listened to, where there isn’t a track I skip on purpose. From the opening downbeat of “The Dawn of A new Age” to the final droning keyboard and guitar of “Transcendental Requiem of Slaves” it all has resonance, and it’s all important to the album overall.

Everything works together so well. There has never been a black metal album so well arranged. Frost is especially important here, as he’s virtually perfect at coming up with musical drum fills and accents that play into the riff and often enhance it. It’s those random tom hits on the upbeats, or the intricate patterns he uses all over the album that bring more to ‘Nemesis Divina’ than any drum performance has brought to any other black metal album since the genre’s inception. The riffs themselves are burned in my memory for as long as I live. I could write 20 hundred words about each song and individual riff, but I doubt there are many of you left reading this as it is.

There are few albums that have brought me anything close to the same amount joy that ‘Nemesis Divina’ has. Put on your headphones, let the world burn around you if it’s going to, and exist only in the world Satyricon built with this music back in 1996. When I listen to this album, I get fucking existential. I’d rather live in the universe this guitar work compels me to imagine. This album does to me what people describe psychedelic drugs as doing for them. I’m well passed the point of being ridiculous now, but let’s just say that my opinion of the album is that it’s mandatory listening. There are precious few albums that matter this much to me, and I can only hope that if someone hears this album for the first time this year, it has the same kind of impact on them that it’s had on me.

‘Nemesis Divina’ is available now

Band info:  official

The Sludgelord 'Sour 16' for July 2015

Welcome to The Sludgelord’s ‘Sour 16’. Each month, you the reader are unwittingly compiling a list of the top 16 records of the month, covering all genres of metal, but predominately the best the doom, sludge, stoner-psychedelic genres have to offer.  Is it chart? Not really.  To put it simply, the ‘Sour 16’ are the records you guys have been most interested in over the last month and checking out on this page.

So here is the The Sludgelord’s ‘Sour 16’ for July 2015, the 16 records you’re most looking forward too or are currently checking out.  Check em out, spread the word and perhaps revisit some records you may have overlooked.  

The results are compiled based on page views alone and calibrated into the list below. So without further ado, this is the ‘Sour 16’. So until next month, roll up, kick back, chug a beer and Hail the riff! All review links, are held under the artwork. (Total views at the time of publication highlighted in orange)

16) = The Nepalese Temple Ball – ‘Arbor’ (245)

‘How this band is not a household name is beyond my comprehension, but this album should go some way to making sure that happens.’

Review

16) = Dreadnought – ‘Bridging Realms’ (245)

‘The cinematic scope of Dreadnought’s music sounds like it should take a small orchestra to perform it.’

Review

14). Plaguewielder  - ‘Chambers of Death’ (252)

‘Ominously named, and equally ominous with their execution, Plaguewielder has no real give to their sound, the first track, ‘Existence is Our Exile’, simply shreds against the walls of your mind, with the torturous vocals raking like the nails of the dead against the inside of your skull.’

Review

13). Vattnet Viskar – ‘Settler’ (254)

‘This record is DENSE! With a massively thick tone, these songs sonically envelop you in billowing oppressive textures’

Review

12). Freedom Hawk – ‘Into your Mind’ (263)

‘Overall a very strong album that holds strong throughout; immense riffs and licks, explosive drumming, engaging vocals and solid bass playing- it doesn’t get much better.’

Review

11). Hair of the Dog – ‘The Siren’s Song’ (284)

‘The tone of the record is undeniably loud and heavy, but incorporates an atmosphere which is vibrant, full of energy and represents a band with a very bright future indeed’.

Review

10). Abrams – ‘Lust.Love.Loss’ (294)

‘Blending spiky guitar lines reminiscent of These Arms Are Snakes, plenty of weird Cave In style effects, angular post-hardcore aggression and no-nonsense stoner riffing, Abrams have created a compelling and addictive listen here.’

Review

9). Tremonti – ‘Cauterize’ (304)

‘It is not metal like Celtic Frost, certainly, but it is as metallic as bands like Black Label Society for instance.’

Review

8). Fogg – ‘High Testament’ (311)

‘If you like your music with heavy riffs, fuzz pedals in overdrive and mixed with various styles, Fogg are worth checking out.

Review

7). Goya – ‘Obelisk‘(326)

'Obelisk' is, in all, a thinking man’s doom metal record; it keeps you on your toes, always remains untamed, delivering uppercuts with complete conviction just when you think you’ve sussed them out.’

Review

6). Khemmis – ‘Absolution’ (334)

‘From the opening riff of the album you can pretty much tell ‘Absolution’ is great. Laying somewhere between Pallbearer and perhaps a downtempo Ghost, Khemmis' first full-length is one of the best albums you will hear this year, Period!!’

Review

5). A Trust Unclean  - 'Reality Relinquished' (341)

‘The whole EP is so energetic, inspiration seems to bleed from every available crevice; here is a band basking in a creative flourish.

Review

4). Weeed – ‘Our Guru Brings us the Black Master Sabbath’ (343)

‘Be it in the album’s closing track or all the tracks preceding, Weeed has made a potential classic stoner rock album that draws from familiar elements of the genre and has enough experimentation to give them a sound of their own.’

Review

3). Sweet Cobra – ‘Earth’ (354)

'Earth' will sit nicely in any collection and would add some melodic relief in between the usual tipple of sludge, doom, death metal and black metal. Brilliant.’

Review

2). Alustrium – ‘A Tunnel  to Eden’ (409)

Listening to "A Tunnel to Eden" I get the feeling that this might be the album that "makes" this band

Review

1). Gorgoroth – ‘Instinctus Bestialis’ (411)

‘Technical and precise, this album at times has a subtle yet palpable progressive tinge…’

Review

This list features reviews by Heather Blewett, Chris Tedor, Chris Bull, Victor Van Ommen, Philip Weller, Brian Mclean, Kat Hilton, Charlie Butler, Steve Howe, Hunter Young, Richard Maw & James Harris