I remember when I first heard the name Naglfar almost 10 years ago I laughed my ass off and kind of shook my head thinking, "Ahhh, those black metal bands and their silly names." Well, when I finally heard a couple of songs off of their debut, "Vittra", shortly thereafter, I stopped laughing, and at the time these Swedes became one of the only black metal bands that I truly enjoyed. A few years later Naglfar released "Diabolical", their second full-length, and in blowing most of their contemporaries out of the water with an absolutely impeccable classic, they also sort of screwed themselves in the process: This record is so good, there's simply no way to top it! Hence, sadly, everything the band has done since 1998 has been, in my opinion, increasingly boring. Don't get me wrong, I own all of their output sans their recently released fourth full-length ("Pariah"), but when it all comes down to it I really only listen to the first two records, and 90% of the time it's the masterpiece of "Diabolical" that I choose to pull out.
With this one, it's all about balance. The band somehow managed to unleash an extremely ferocious black metal record that's also surprisingly catchy. The recording is powerful and clear but still has an intriguing bite to it that adds a little acerbity to the mix. The riffs are generally fast as fuck, at times fairly complex, yet always tight and energetic. And so on... "Blades" is simply one of the finest black metal songs of all time, with a completely raging sense of energy and totally memorable songwriting tactics. Quite amazing, really.
Naglfar "Blades"
Naglfar "12'th Rising"
Naglfar "When Autumn Storms Come"
This one's been reissued a few times, and rightfully so. Lucky for you the damn thing's available for less than $6 brand new from The End Records right now!? Who knows why, but jump at that shit!
In other news, I got my first ever request to remove mp3's on Saturday morning, and in the process I deleted the 1993 Merauder demo as well. I'm going to re-post those songs this week, along with a copy of "Fear of Sin" from those same sessions (which I guess only appeared on later copies of the demo or something), so keep an eye out for that.
Comments
another good call Andrew, I’ll have to check this one out. I just recently got into these guys, I have Pariah and Sheol . the Pariah disc is definitely better.
what did you think of Wrench?
10.9.2005 | By jesse
Just downloaded the stuff today. To be totally honest with you, the guitar tone is absolutely impeccable, I love that, and some of the music is decent… but I totally hate the vocals and the songwriting does very little for me when all is said and done. Sorry!
10.10.2005 | By Andrew Aversionline
sounds pretty good, but i don’t think the cover art is kvlt enough :)
10.10.2005 | By -cja
no need to apologize Andrew. can win them all. have you heard of Eyelid?
10.10.2005 | By jesse
holy s**t, this stuff *rules*. thanks for totally making my day.
10.10.2005 | By cosmo
yeah man they’re quite blazing… other than that you should hear Setherial, if you don’t already know them!
10.15.2005 | By Anonymous