Nocturno Culto, who forms one-half of the nefarious duo known as Darkthrone, has a long history of side projects. Among other contributions, he worked out the intricate riffcraft behind Satyricon’s Nemesis Divina, making it a favorite in that band’s catalog.
Now he has embarked on a new side project which is a pure traditional heavy metal band called Gift of Gods. Gift of Gods will release its debut mini-album Receive on Peaceville Records on November 5, 2013.
Commented Nocturno Culto, “Finally, the mini-album is done. Gift Of Gods has been a great ride for me. I don’t want this to end now, so I will most likely work on new material. Thanks to my partner in crime, K.A. Hubred, we got to rehearse during the last two years. What to expect? I have no idea how to describe this, but it’s metal for sure.”
Receive was performed and recorded by Culto and Hubred at Culto’s home studio, and mixed and mastered by Jack Control at Enormous Door, who recently worked with Nocturno on Darkthrone’s The Underground Resistance.
So far the only reports tell us this will be traditional heavy metal with a wide range of influences and that it will lead toward the melodic side of things. This EP/mini-album will be a half-hour of material including a cover of “Looking For an Answer” originally by obscure Swedish 80s band Universe.
- Intro
- Enlightning Strikes
- Receive
- Looking For An Answer
- Last Solstice
- Outro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnVP0vaLmGY
Tags: darkthrone, gift of gods, Heavy Metal, k.a. hubred, melodic metal, nocturno culto
Why is Satyricon´s debut album considered of less artistic relevance than the other contemporary Norwegian bands. There’s a review on the DLA, that more or less states there´s nothing wrong with that debut album yet it is treated as black metal for morons?
Nothing wrong with the album? There is nothing to the album. The DLA review reflects that.
I’d say it’s on par with Dimmu Borgir’s first two: good mimicry with an interesting take on the genre; not significant in itself, but fun to listen to.
No way anything from Satyricon is on par with Stormblast. Yeah, it is fun to listen to though.
Yeah guys, I’m not arguing against the accuracy of what SR Prozak wrote for that review, my question is HOW is that album inferior to the classics and demi-classics of that same period of time, when in the text of that review, even Prozak admitted or implied there was “nothing wrong” with Satyricon’s debut? The motivation behind my inquiry is to get a tip or hint on how to spot inferior metal when it’s hard to tell the difference from albums that have “nothing wrong” compared to the greats. Not everyone can be Prozak, Conservationist or Kontinual, you know? And I’m not pretending to be…
For instance: I remember the very first song turned me off on that Satyricon because they transitioned from an electric guitars part to a mellow acoustic part, and it struck me as unnecessary, but they must have been thinking ‘this is how you do black metal, right?’ The transition in that song from A to B made no sense and was unnecessary although A all by itself and B all by itself didn’t necessarily “sound bad.”
There’s two parts to good: (a) nothing bad and (b) something good.
To give more detail, the early Satyricon works have all the right ingredients, but never seem to express anything cogently. Melodies don’t complete; song structures don’t go anywhere. Even Nemesis Divina is somewhat chaotic and rambling. This detracts from the real metal experience, which is of a narrative, exposition and clarifying succession of discoveries.
Sorry to be cruel. I know from reliable secondhand advice that the creative forces behind Satyricon are good guys who would understand this site better than 99% of the people out there. However, it is what it is. No job is perfect, and music reviewer includes the position of having to say nasty things about the work of good people.
Am I missing something? Where the hell is there a DLA review of Satyricon’s debut?
I’m asking that same question?
Apparently they are all gone, oh well. You can still find the Mother North review googling. Actually come to think of it maybe the review of the debut was in a text zine.
http://www.anus.com/metal/about/zine/death_metal/issue4.txt
“Satyricon – Dark Medieval Times
Temptingly close to the original thrust of passion which made black
metal from Scandinavia so popular, Satyricon is everything the
original had except the last 5% of “getting it” that entails address
of the spirit of the darkness invoked by these bands. Gently
harmonizing black metal uses melodic riffing to build a mood and
then levels it, going back to its central supposition and basic riff
constructions; however, the longer the melodic riffs get, the
clearer it is that they have no centering in concept, although
they’re clearly central in tone. One has to see Satyr as a tragic
figure, being as musically, socially and intellectually competent as
his peers, but lacking something that Fenriz and Ihsahn did not,
possibly the same void that impelled him to be the one to start the
record label that would carry on black metal – including the music
of Darkthrone – after its breath of life had died. While there is
nothing to disqualify this release, it is the recommendation of this
reviewer that the sensible listener avoid it and focus on the great
releases instead of this also-ran.”
Not sure how the OP can possibly consider this a positive recommendation, however.
From a recent Darkthrone review:
“There’s nothing wrong with this album except that it has nothing to recommend it. It is competent; it’s fun to listen to; I never want to hear it again.”
There once was an ANUS-affiliated site with user reviews btw. It had this Germanic sounding name.
http://www.anus.com/metal/about/larm/
Yeah, LARM, the whole archive is still up.