NORDAFROST - Dominus Frigoris (GODEATER - CD 2013)
Oh boy, I still remember how much I hated the
black metal bands from Germany, which circulated around the mid to late 90’s,
mainly around that pathetic record label called Last Episode… you know, all
that shit like Dunkelgrafen, Aeba, Eminenz, Mystic Circle and more. They were born
from the brown eye of Satan and smelled and sounded shit hehe! Anyway, later on
something has changed. There appeared some bands, which I actually started to
like a lot and all of a sudden the German scene became very, very interesting: Graven,
Lunar Aurora, Klabautamann, Sun of the Sleepless, and then Nachtmahr, Secrets
of the Moon and Helrunar; some of these bands are my all time favourites now!
If you add to this list such Chaos Invocation, Ascension and whatever I have
already forgotten then really you may imagine how strong the German black metal
scene has become. And it is good of corpse! Their death metal used to suck a
lot, so at least black metal became more interesting. Here in this review I am
going to write few words about the band called Nordafrost and I must be honest
and say that they never were among my favourites. I know them for some years already,
I think first time I’ve heard them was around 10 years ago, when Heavy Horses
Records sent me a couple of promos for review: Klabautamann’s excellent “Der
Ort” and Nordafrost’s “North Arise”. Hmm, back then Nordafrost didn’t impress
me much and maybe this is why I totally erased their name from my mind and just
haven’t listened to anything from this band ever since I have finished writing
that review of “North Arise” (that promo CD is still gathering dust and mould
somewhere, but I need to exhume it now and check it out again…). I know now
that later Nordafrost has recorded their second album „Back to the Shores of
Grey”, but I doubt that it got any good promotion, as the band remains rather
unknown… Anyway, recently I was contacted by Svartis (guitars / vocals) with an
e-mail promoting Nordafrost’s new release – it was a re-release of the band’s
debut demo „Dominus Frigoris” by Godeater Records. Well, I immediately reminded
myself that I used to know Nordafrost, so I contacted Svartis about this demo
and he kindly sent me over a copy. „Dominus Frigoris” was re-released on
digipack format, with some bonus tracks, so the album is really attractive…
And well, I must say that the music on „Dominus
Frigoris” really intrigued me and more so, I must say that Nordafrost’s music
turned out to be much more interesting than I remembered (so this is also why I
need to exhume “North Arise”!). Their black metal may not be the most original
and not the most thrilling ever, but certainly it is good enough to give it few
spins and enjoy the music damn a lot. Yeah, it didn’t put me down on my knees,
but I got hooked by some of these songs and really liked „Dominus Frigoris” for
the solid, dark and gloomy music. The riffs played by Nordafrost are rather
simplistic, but not primitive; tempo wise their music is often furiously fast,
but it is also diverse with other tempos, so in the end you won’t find here any
monotony, but a lot of dynamics and energy. Such songs like “Lyn Og Torden”
(with some vocals sounding like Grutle from Enslaved hehe) are massive, furious
and merciless attacks on your hears, while such “Nocturnal Cult” is filled with
slower bits and more melodic riffs. „Dominus Frigoris” is just damn good demo!
But that is not everything, as the bonus tracks
are even more interesting. First we have the material from the split EP,
originally released with Unlight (in 2006). It is one song plus two more, which
were recorded during the same session, but until now they remained unreleased I
think (one of them is Depression cover). Musically and sound wise this stuff is
quite similar to „Dominus Frigoris”, but I do think that “Assault” is one of
the best songs of Nordafrost; it has killer feeling and speeds up into such
furious tempos that the walls crack. And finally we have two recent songs of
the band, released under the title “The Victorious” EP and man; these are just
great tunes. I am sure that everyone, who loves Immortal’s recent albums will
also love these tracks. I really do think that Nordafrost got quite close, both
musically and quality wise, to Immortal and that is a compliment! Again there
are many fast tempos, but also some slower parts, so this is just solid and
damn awesome black metal. Nothing more to add. Recommended release!
Standout tracks: “Assault”, “Lyn Og Torden”,
“The Victorious”
Final rate: 80/100
No comments:
Post a Comment