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 Nidingrbear 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, Mayhemand other acts on his resume. As you think about that experience, you might wonder why Nidingris considered or classifies itself in the black metal camp. Herein lies a curious departure in this tale.

What makes Nidingrsuch 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’srelease 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’slatest 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 Gorgorothtrack, 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