Nordjevel : "Gnavhòl"

This band is the next wave of Norwegian black metal which is not much different than the last wave. They hit you with a blitz of blast beats from the first song and do not let up. I guess this is trve to what black metal should be in some respects, there is still song writing to consider. The vocals are varied from croaks to screaming, and the buzz saw guitars leave space to balance out the relentless drumming. The problem with going straight for the jugular all the time is the songs begin to all sound the same, it is not until they switch things up with the more tightly syncopated "Within the Eyes" that the song writing improves. The rest becomes a blur. If it was not for the smarter riffing, then by four songs in I would have become burned out.

The title track does have some powerful chugs, and the scowling gurgles of the vocals sit a little differently, but the overall sonic feel is still more uniform than not. The main riff that chugs hard is cool, but the rule around here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make. There are more Mayhem like groans when things grind down a bit in " Antichrist Flesh" but a blast beat is still just a blast beat, unless there is something more interesting being done around it.   "Spores of Gnosis" is a bunch of rabid drumming with some haunting guitar melodies trying to find where they fir it, sometimes it works. "Gnnawing the Bones" finds this band becoming a one trick pony on a fast trip to hell. They are addicted to playing fast even at the peril of writing good songs.   

They are much better served when employing a deliberate throb to their sound. Why they were not doing this all along, I do not know as it sounds much better. The last song is driven by guitars with the machine-like precision more commonly found in death metal. It sounds great, in fact the entire album sound cool, the difference being that good sounds are the product of a producer and songs are written from the soul. This does not change because it  is black metal in fact it should be even more true, With that said I will give this album a 7.5, and that is for fans of just straight forward black metal, with little new injected into it. 

7.5