Nargaroth
Black Metal Ist Krieg
[No Colours]
I was almost tempted to change my mind about Countess unleashing the best black metal album of 2001 after hearing Nargaroth's latest album, "Black Metal ist Krieg" - this disc is destined to become a modern masterpiece, I think. It's an album of new material, but it's not a concept album like "Herbstleyd"; in fact, it feels like even more of a mixed bag than "Amarok" was as there is a wide range of material on here. Four covers and six new originals make up this 70-minute disc, and the styles cover almost the entire gamut of approaches to black metal. Bookending this album are two songs in the purest spirit of black metal, "Black Metal Ist Krieg" and "Possessed by Black Fucking Metal". Both are streamlined, simple, aggressive songs dripping with hatred. The title track is a violently fast, blistering opening to the album (featuring Butcher of Maniac Butcher on drums, I'm guessing; he shares the drum throne on this album with Occulta Mors from Moonblood, but few people can drum as fast as Butcher),
while "Possessed..." closes out the album with a slower, pummelling assault of crunching riffs.
It's nice to see that, despite the ultraviolence, Kanwulf has not forgotten about the more introspective side of his music. "Seven Tears are Flowing to the River" is another new original, a lengthy piece full of emotion and melancholic guitar riffing. Even at 15 minutes long, the feeling of the song keeps you hooked and almost makes you wish it were twice as long. We are also treated to Part III of the "Amarok" song trilogy; like the earlier parts it evokes the feeling of mourning a time forever gone, but, also like Part II, in a slightly different style from the earlier parts; Kanwulf uses his clean vocals over some almost folk-ish clean guitar strumming in the wistful opening section of the song, which then builds into a heavy, trudging strut riff that's a good deal more angry and malevolent than anything else previously displayed in the song trilogy.
Kanwulf puts his influences on his sleeve for the last two original songs, paying homage to some of his heroes from the early Norse Black Metal scene. "The Day Burzum Killed Mayhem" is of course an obvious tribute to August 15, 1993, complete with a sample of a German newscast apparently reporting the story (my German is rusty; I'm assuming that's what the newscaster is talking about...). Musically it's very much in the early Norse BM style, but stays away from just copying one band or another - quite unlike the other tribute song, "Erik, May You Rape the Angels", a tribute to former Immortal/Borknagar drummer Erik (aka Grim). This song is like something that could have been an outtake from the "Pure Holocaust" sessions - the opening riff is straight out of "A Sign for the Norse Hordes to Ride", while the midpaced chorus section towards the end of the song calls to mind the midpaced triplet strut of "The Sun No Longer Rises". Kanwulf even goes so far as to imitate Abbath's unique croaked vocal approach. A great song, probably the best on the album, and a very fitting tribute to a guy who never actually played on the album...
Finally, of course, are the covers. Rather than relegating them to the end of the album, they are actually mixed in with the originals (the tracklist basically alternates original/cover/original/cover...), and they are well-chosen: Azhubham Haani's "Far Beyond the Stars", Root's "Pisen pro Satana", Lord Foul's "I Burn for You", and Moonblood's "The Gates of Eternity". They fit well with the overall theme of the album and Nargaroth's style, as it's easy to see the common pool of influences that all of the bands share. Especially notable are the Root cover (which, according to Kanwulf's liner notes, was Varg's real inspiration for the Burzum song "War") and the Moonblood cover, probably some of the best post-Darkthrone norse-style BM I've heard.
Even the packaging pays homage to the best of the BM scene - the cover is a simplistic white-on-black in the same manner of Transilvanian Hunger, and the inside is gold lettering on grayscale photos much like Graveland's "Immortal Pride" or "Following the Voice of Blood". The 16-page booklet is FULL of liner notes (in German), in which Kanwulf discusses the album overall and each song in great detail. Half of the songs get a full page of notes.
To sum it all up, this album rules, yet again proving wrong all of the 'BM is dead' lemmings. This is a work of vision and spirit, and it's amazing that Kanwulf can handle all of the many different approaches to black metal and still sound like himself - from epic to melancholy to blasting to crunching, this album is PURE black metal through and through. I recommend it highly.
© 2001 lord vic
It's nice to see that, despite the ultraviolence, Kanwulf has not forgotten about the more introspective side of his music. "Seven Tears are Flowing to the River" is another new original, a lengthy piece full of emotion and melancholic guitar riffing. Even at 15 minutes long, the feeling of the song keeps you hooked and almost makes you wish it were twice as long. We are also treated to Part III of the "Amarok" song trilogy; like the earlier parts it evokes the feeling of mourning a time forever gone, but, also like Part II, in a slightly different style from the earlier parts; Kanwulf uses his clean vocals over some almost folk-ish clean guitar strumming in the wistful opening section of the song, which then builds into a heavy, trudging strut riff that's a good deal more angry and malevolent than anything else previously displayed in the song trilogy.
Kanwulf puts his influences on his sleeve for the last two original songs, paying homage to some of his heroes from the early Norse Black Metal scene. "The Day Burzum Killed Mayhem" is of course an obvious tribute to August 15, 1993, complete with a sample of a German newscast apparently reporting the story (my German is rusty; I'm assuming that's what the newscaster is talking about...). Musically it's very much in the early Norse BM style, but stays away from just copying one band or another - quite unlike the other tribute song, "Erik, May You Rape the Angels", a tribute to former Immortal/Borknagar drummer Erik (aka Grim). This song is like something that could have been an outtake from the "Pure Holocaust" sessions - the opening riff is straight out of "A Sign for the Norse Hordes to Ride", while the midpaced chorus section towards the end of the song calls to mind the midpaced triplet strut of "The Sun No Longer Rises". Kanwulf even goes so far as to imitate Abbath's unique croaked vocal approach. A great song, probably the best on the album, and a very fitting tribute to a guy who never actually played on the album...
Finally, of course, are the covers. Rather than relegating them to the end of the album, they are actually mixed in with the originals (the tracklist basically alternates original/cover/original/cover...), and they are well-chosen: Azhubham Haani's "Far Beyond the Stars", Root's "Pisen pro Satana", Lord Foul's "I Burn for You", and Moonblood's "The Gates of Eternity". They fit well with the overall theme of the album and Nargaroth's style, as it's easy to see the common pool of influences that all of the bands share. Especially notable are the Root cover (which, according to Kanwulf's liner notes, was Varg's real inspiration for the Burzum song "War") and the Moonblood cover, probably some of the best post-Darkthrone norse-style BM I've heard.
Even the packaging pays homage to the best of the BM scene - the cover is a simplistic white-on-black in the same manner of Transilvanian Hunger, and the inside is gold lettering on grayscale photos much like Graveland's "Immortal Pride" or "Following the Voice of Blood". The 16-page booklet is FULL of liner notes (in German), in which Kanwulf discusses the album overall and each song in great detail. Half of the songs get a full page of notes.
To sum it all up, this album rules, yet again proving wrong all of the 'BM is dead' lemmings. This is a work of vision and spirit, and it's amazing that Kanwulf can handle all of the many different approaches to black metal and still sound like himself - from epic to melancholy to blasting to crunching, this album is PURE black metal through and through. I recommend it highly.
© 2001 lord vic