Nortt/Xasthur "Split" CD
[Southern Lord]
After a two-minute intro of piano alongside cold, crispy guitar and distorted bass dissonance, Nortt (Denmark) opens this split by plowing into the massive 7+ minute "Glemt", which, rather than the black metal one might expect from the aesthetics of the packaging, is actually a pounding, crawling slab of oppressive doom metal - complete with sparse, filthy vocals growling forth from the distance. The tempo is slow, and repetitious, while the recording quality is along the colder and rawer sound more akin to the black metal I was expecting to hear. I definitely enjoy the piano and faint synth melodies that back the grimy, sustained power chords, and those elements play a significant role in all of the tracks, as "Dod og Borte" runs nearly six minutes of an extremely similar approach, straight down to the ploddingly slow pacing and the way the dissonant chords ring out and sustain. There's a little more of a dynamic presence in this one though, as there are some breaks where the vocals and percussion drop out and leave chiming bells and eerie guitars to stand alone, and that helps pass the time a little better. The synth outro isn't quite as interesting as the instrumental intro was, but all the same, it doesn't sound cheesy, and certainly works in its own right as a faintly orchestral dark ambient afterthought. The songs (which fall under the banner of "Hedengang") were recorded way back in 2001, so I'm not sure why they didn't see the light of day before now (Or did they?), but regardless this is solid work that walks a pretty interesting line between crushing, depressive doom metal and a sinister, primal black metal sort of atmosphere. Nicely done. Capping it off, I've heard plenty of mixed opinions about American black metal solo act Xasthur, but the three tracks offered herein (under the general title "A Curse for the Lifeless") are my first actual exposure to his work. The verdict? It's good shit, people. I like it. The instrumental title track starts it off with four minutes of rather slow and hypnotic repetition that layers chorused clean guitars and raggedly distorted textures over tactful drum programming for a little over four minutes, and is actually a pretty moving piece in its use of desolate melody. The 10+ minute "Blood From the Roots of the Forest" is similar, though I do find the mix to be unnecessarily clouded by the occasional use of keyboards or indecipherable singing in the distance (I can't really tell what's going on, but the track basically sounds like an instrumental regardless). Another instrumental, "Lurking in Silence" follows suit with several minutes of winding paces and densely chorused clean guitars over noisy guitar dissonance far off in the background, allowing orchestral synths of a sufficient level of quality to close the final chunk of the piece. I can handle the extremely raw recording as it's fairly well handled for the most part, and of course fits the tone of this music perfectly, but I do think it might be nice for things to be reigned in just a little - keeping that primal edge but making sure the guitar parts are in tune with one another and going back to touch up or redo little flubs in the performances, etc. These such issues are very minor, however, and I actually quite enjoy the use of repetition and persistence in these compositions. The drum machines are excellently employed as well, never weakening the writing at all. The packaging devotes half of the booklet to each band, so you get two complete album covers and everything. No lyrics are included for either act, just one band photo each, credits, and then a bunch of photos of the forest. But where most black metal bands use high contrast black and white images of bleak winter landscapes, all of these images are in color... and you can actually see some... green leaves!? What the hell is that all about!? But seriously, it looks pretty good, a little different from the norm, and despite Xasthur's logo being absolutely illegible, I think it's one of the best black metal logos I've ever seen. Awesome. All in all this is another solid black metal release from Southern Lord, so I hope the label continues to kick out some more from this genre in the future. (7/10)
Running time - 37:01, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Glemt, Dod og Borte, A Curse for the Lifeless, Blood From the Roots of the Forest]
Southern Lord Recordings - http://www.southernlord.com

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