Skaur : "Farvel"

Time for a straight up Norwegian black metal album. Sure we covered Myrkur, but these two albums are miles apart. The album title is Danish for "Goodbye". This used to be a one-man project brought to you by Normann the ex-guitarist from Iskald. He has since recruited other members to fill things out . A wise choice. The guitar work is interesting, while this is unmistakably black metal. Not just tremolo picking but melodies that weave their way in and out of the drumming , the vocals hold off until the final moments of the song and when they come in they are agonized in a tormented Attila like fashion. Maybe even more shrieking."Sommer" stays on a similar pace to the opener, more double bass and dropping into some half time punches, the vocals are more dominant in this song. The guitars ring out like a cross between Liturgy and Darkthrone. They shift from riff to riff like a progressive band might. Clean vocals call out from the distance as the song swirling around at time folk tinged rhythms. On what translates to "old days" they have cemented their sound, the pace is more waltzing with blasts thrown in around the guitar melodies. This begins to give the album a rather monochromatic feel at first listen and really requires multiple listens to fully absorb.

 When they slow down to favor the guitar parts their song benefit the most. But this is black metal you say...shouldn't there just be a bunch of mindless blasting? Well if you are playing as intricate lines as these guys are and not just hanging on a few chords and droning then they should be heard. When the guitars sustain the notes and the drums blast under them it works. When the slow down at times this gives the bass player time to catch up and provide and underlying melody. They begin to make head way in this regard on "Nordland". The clean vocals come more to the forefront and the oddly paced timing and placement of the guitar melodies make this one of the albums best songs.They close out the album with the title track that has a beautiful flow to it. It fights off the blast beats that would otherwise distract you from the very nuanced playing. Despite the geographic difference , at times it hits the  melodic sonics that the cascadian bands tap into. The vocals become even more twisted to the point of having a depressive slant to them. Things get pretty chaotic towards the end and then a sweeping guitar line goes into a solo and begins to take the song out on an epic note.

Though bands of this nature don't normally tour , I think they would be wise to take this on the road, as the album would work well in a live setting. However touring can be a challenge for European bands so that is merely wishful thinking. If you like more recent Mayhem and are open minded when it comes to your black metal I think this album is for you. I'll give it a 9, though it is so detailed I'm not sure how much casual listen this will garner on my part, but this is so well compose and executed it deserves that high of a score, as they take sounds you are familiar with and make them something of their own.




   

Iskald : "Nedom og Nord"

Iskald means ice cold in Norse, and as far a Norwegian Black metal goes forming in 2005 puts these guys as being newer kids on the block. They play melodic black metal, that is well written and has enough dark and creepy ring into the guitars to draw my ears in. It's well produced not unlike Immortal in this regard. There is nothing cult here, the blasting is kept to a groove laden middle gallop. Much like Immortal this is very thrash laced and would be a good entry point for someone trying to find a listener friendly gateway into black metal.
The opener uses more restraint than you would expect from this sort of thing, and in a year where their doesn't appear to be a lot of black metal on the horizon, I think this album is going to be welcomed among the fans , and the timing of it's release is going to play into this band's favor.

"Underworldy" is a nice frosty blend of propulsion and speed , balanced out by the melodic nature of  the riff-age here. While the Immortal comparison abound, there's touches of older Enslaved and Vried is lacing the edges. The vocals stay in a midrange rasp dipping down a note here and there into more of a death metal growl.The cool riffs don't make a song rule is still intact though these guys take a swing with their maces at crushing the theory.

Not a big fan of bands that name songs after themselves, it's done here and the song dips into a more contemplative melodic side at first before springing back into the furious blackened thrash that seems to gain momentum as the album progresses. When the band gets caught up in the blur of speed they create, they tend to loses me until the guitar find more meat to stick to. These guys are no doubt great players, the guitar playing here is where this band shines, though the very melodic phrasing of the bass is welcomed as bass tend to not make it's presence as known in this sort of thing. The synths at the end are well used to create the dynamic build.


"The Silence" comes out of the gate with mcnastiness. This diminishes the dynamic capabilities of the band as the first minute and a half of the song is a blur.The riffs that shift almost endlessly in these songs are very intricate in their arrangement. Composition is the strong point to the song writing here. The lyrical content being the weaker polarity. The band retraces its steps in the snow to find the more epic strengths in "Nidingsdad" the double bass here handles the under current of speed allowing the guitar to soar over it.They continue to hit you with a lot of detailed riffage. The guitar playing on this album is some of the best I heard from a band of their ilk since Enslaved. The vocal patterns are on the other hand rather bland. They do layer clean vocals with the harsh vocals ,to create an even more Enslaved feel, this is not idol worship as it captures a sound of their own.

The title track closes out the album, it holds off on some of the speed, instead weaving the web of riffs.They don't hold off too long on the blast but as a brief interval for the solo to lay over it works. Its when the clean guitar floats in under the harsh vocals for a minute that I'm surprised and this is something I wish they would have built upon rather than defaulting to a more traditional approach. The folky guitar close to the seven minute mark is a nice touch and gives a more Moonsorrow feel.

I'll give this album an 8, it might grow on me, the vocal patterns and the default modes it sometimes reverts to were the only draw backs on my end, in a time where you are starving for black metal, this goes above and beyond just being satisfying into some excellently crafted black metal.