Hirilorn / Nasav
A Hymn To The Ancient Souls /
Umr At Tawil
[Sempiternal]
Hirilorn won me over rather quickly with their last release, as can be told from my incredibly enthused review of “Legends Of Evil…”, and thus I was compelled to pick up this split CD and their 7” on Spikekult, both vastly different works from their most brilliant full-length.
Where the full-length exuded a melancholic, sombre submission through its use of some inspired, literate lead guitar work, the 5 tracks on show here are a lot more chord-based, is quite a bit colder, and Sinn’s perpetual lead guitar wandering doesn’t feature so prominently this time around. Where the full-length sounded more developed, evolved and sophisticated, this is simpler and more primitive material, which raises the question of whether this is demo-era Hirilorn, seeing as how they have released a demo of the same name.
This doesn’t sound quite as individualistic, original or profound as their full-length material or as aggressive and focussed as their 7”, but rather strikes a middle ground between the two, employing a highly melodic and literate approach to songwriting and incorporating it into a somewhat intense, aggressive black metal template. Not quite on the level that their full-length was, naturally, but as it is, this is another sophisticated foray into epic, evocative and affecting melodic black metal, and a more primitive take on their full-length of sorts. We could do without Hasjarl’s ridiculous spoken word passage in “Where Lightning Strikes Eternally”, though. Hirilorn have indefinitely split up now, and Hasjarl and Shaxul have formed a spanking new black metal outfit that apparently sounds akin to fellow black metal deities Arkhon Infaustus and AntaeuS.
Nasav, the other band on this split is rather pretentious, pompous and pointless Nordic-influenced black metal from Mexico that occassionally comes up with some worthwhile ideas, but for the most part suffer from being ridiculously predictable, contrived and nonsensical. A Mexican band attempting to write in French is appalling enough as it is, but they conjure up a brew of unimaginative black metal with terrible vocals, tedious compositions, lots of acoustic guitar wankery and a very tinny sound. I’ve gathered that some people quite like this outfit, and I can’t bloody figure out why anybody would enjoy this tripe.
Judged purely from Hirilorn’s side, this is a worthy addition to your collection, or perhaps you’d do better taping the Hirilorn side/ buying the demo itself from the band.
[ 8 for the Hirilorn side, 5 for the Nasav side ]
© 2000 equimanthorn
Where the full-length exuded a melancholic, sombre submission through its use of some inspired, literate lead guitar work, the 5 tracks on show here are a lot more chord-based, is quite a bit colder, and Sinn’s perpetual lead guitar wandering doesn’t feature so prominently this time around. Where the full-length sounded more developed, evolved and sophisticated, this is simpler and more primitive material, which raises the question of whether this is demo-era Hirilorn, seeing as how they have released a demo of the same name.
This doesn’t sound quite as individualistic, original or profound as their full-length material or as aggressive and focussed as their 7”, but rather strikes a middle ground between the two, employing a highly melodic and literate approach to songwriting and incorporating it into a somewhat intense, aggressive black metal template. Not quite on the level that their full-length was, naturally, but as it is, this is another sophisticated foray into epic, evocative and affecting melodic black metal, and a more primitive take on their full-length of sorts. We could do without Hasjarl’s ridiculous spoken word passage in “Where Lightning Strikes Eternally”, though. Hirilorn have indefinitely split up now, and Hasjarl and Shaxul have formed a spanking new black metal outfit that apparently sounds akin to fellow black metal deities Arkhon Infaustus and AntaeuS.
Nasav, the other band on this split is rather pretentious, pompous and pointless Nordic-influenced black metal from Mexico that occassionally comes up with some worthwhile ideas, but for the most part suffer from being ridiculously predictable, contrived and nonsensical. A Mexican band attempting to write in French is appalling enough as it is, but they conjure up a brew of unimaginative black metal with terrible vocals, tedious compositions, lots of acoustic guitar wankery and a very tinny sound. I’ve gathered that some people quite like this outfit, and I can’t bloody figure out why anybody would enjoy this tripe.
Judged purely from Hirilorn’s side, this is a worthy addition to your collection, or perhaps you’d do better taping the Hirilorn side/ buying the demo itself from the band.
[ 8 for the Hirilorn side, 5 for the Nasav side ]
© 2000 equimanthorn