When the Wolves Return to the Forest

Calling When the Wolves Return to the Forest a full-length album seems a bit dishonest; really, it's a short EP's worth of original material with an earlier demo tacked onto the end (which at least explains why there's a track called "Epilogue" about halfway through). That's not to say these demo tracks are unwelcome - in fact, they're some of the release's most compelling material. "Celtic Lands" kicks off that section of the disc with some of the most ferociously fast drumming I've ever heard in black metal, only to (briefly, but repeatedly) ratchet the tempo even higher in the subsequent track. The demo's closer "Forgotten Realms" is undoubtedly the strongest of the three dungeon-synthy instrumental tracks, and certainly the only one that successfully creates the atmosphere it intends to (at least until the ill-advised, quasi-martial outro). The uncreatively named "Prologue" and "Epilogue", by contrast, shamelessly ape the synth interludes used by other, more famous bands.

This begins to drive at the sound of the album. It's not particularly original, but one gets the impression that originality isn't what they were going for. It's an album meant to slot into a particular era and 'scene' within black metal, and it fills that role with ease. Certain factors do put Nazgul's unique stamp on the record too, particularly bassist Grendel's ghostly mezzo-soprano backing vocals (I personally find them a little cheesy, but I'll at least grant that she sounds better than the majority of clean singers I've heard in the genre). Without such elements, though, it would be difficult to distinguish Nazgul's sound from that of their influences and their contemporaries. If you've heard, say, Thousand Swords, you've essentially heard this album.

One of the stranger gripes I've ever had with a record is that the mixing is too clean. But the mixing does indeed do the album a disservice; much of the songwriting is textbook "kvlt", but it's mixed more or less like a pop album. This takes a lot of the atmosphere out of the guitar lines by foregrounding the vocals and snare drum. The plainly-audible bass guitar is a welcome change of pace, rounding out the sound and providing some compelling countermelodies. Even this turns sour on the title track, however; Grendel keeps up with the band, but at least to my ears she seems to be playing unevenly. It's an unfortunate error that mars the quality of the song, but not one that shows up on the other tracks - elsewhere, her playing is entirely solid.

To be frank, "entirely solid" is probably the aptest description of this album. Nothing (or at least very little) about it is noticeably bad, but just as little is remarkably good. It's simply another entry into the canon of late-90s folk/black, albeit one that wisely chooses to sway the ratio in favor of black metal. It's not a disc I'd bother tracking down, but if I came across it in my local record shop I might give it another chance.

I believe the title of this review sums up the band to a tee or I could've used "Graveland Worship" instead. Being of Spanish blood as well (like the previous reviewer below) I was looking for something from my homeland. After all our next door neighbor France seems to be really tearing shit up on the black metal scene grabbing it by the balls and squeezing tight. They have it down to perfection, soooo you'd think that just south of that country that Spain would have the fever. Apparently not so, there's not much of a black metal "scene" going on, yet. Hopefully they're next in line to the throne currently held by the French.

I run into this band Nazgul from Madrid, the band has the look but do they have the sound to back it up? Well yeah, they have great knowledge of their Iberian past, the Celtic past. Combine that ideology with the obvious Graveland influence and you have something to work with. These guys must have been playing 'Thousand Swords' to death before forming this band. Even their look resembles that of Thousand Swords-era Graveland with the Pagan clothing and corpsepaint. The album cover can easily be confused with them too.

The music inside is wonderfully executed, they had performed it exactly as they must have imagined it. Problem is that it's not terribly original. I've heard this done before and done to perfection by Rob Darken himself. The first song 'Prologue' is a minute long intro with the sounds of a cold blizzard wind in a quiet, tranquil setting, perhaps a forest. It's actually a listenable intro, it certainly gives you the feeling of actually being there. Then comes the pagan war music and it does not disappoint but it's not something that blows you away either. Simply put, it's pretty good music.

What I like about these guys is that they embrace their Celtic past which Spain had. People don't think of Spain being a country full of white people which is in my mind a terrible misunderstanding. Because you hear the word spanish or the language people instantly think of South or Central Americans and they don't fit the physical description of the pure spaniard. These guys insinuate their purity and beloved past in a way that Graveland does so well.

Nazgul is a band that you should listen to if you're a spaniard and are looking for some good black/pagan metal AND/OR if you're a huge Graveland fan and you're looking for a similar band to fulfill your Pagan needs. The band is no more and are currently working under a more black metal sounding group called 'Uruk-Hai' which is more musically tight and focused. They're definitely an improvement which should also get recognition.

Being of European Spanish decent, I love to see bands such as Nazgul come out of the scene with some nice raw pagan black metal to offer to the hordes of the underground. So I without any hesitation I picked up their only full length release so far called When the Wolves Return to the Forest. As with most pagan black metal, the music is very inspired by nature and old European beliefs. Nazgul have joined the black metal war and are reaching to be one of the elites at the top of the rank.
Fans of Graveland, Capricornus, Operation WInter Mist, and Drudkh will be in paradise with this release as it hits all the right spots when it comes to this style of music. Nazgul play relentlessly with good chaotic riffs, insanely fast drumming, and some of the most tormented and demonic vocals to ever come out of the scene. There are some female vocals as well to be found in the album that work nicely to set some serene atmosphere amidst the chaos of the music. It reminds me of a woman left alone while her lover is out at war to bring back a new older kind of Europe. The keyboard passages are used sparingly and do their job very well, not overpowering any other instrument. The end of the album has some pretty moody epic synths that calm the listener down from what they just experienced. A beautiful way to end a teriffic record.
The only complaint I have with this release is one that isn't really about the music, it's that I wanted more. I thoroughly enjoy this album but before I know it, it is over, making me beg for more of this style of pagan black metal before I pop in my Nokturnal Mortum CD. That is the only unfortunate reason why I deducted 5 points off the score because I know if this album were just a tad bit longer, it would be an easily flawless album (even moreso than it already is).
However, despite such a small dilemma, When the Wolves Return to the forest is very strongly reccomended for those into black metal and is a must have specifically for fans of European pagan black metal. Nazgul have created a fantastic piece of art which leaves me as a big fan of the band that still wouldn't hesitate to purchase some more of their music.

This is the first full length album from one of Spain's premier Black Metal groups, Nazgul.

I am going to start this review by saying what this album is not. This album is neither the rawest out there, nor the darkest or "kvltest". It is not the most technical and it is not an epic. Finally it is not an album that stands out in any particular way.

Now that I got that out of the way this album is good at what it tries to be, a standard black metal album in the mold of Graveland and company about the usual topics, in this case paganism. While it is less than a half-hour you would want to listen to it more than once to get the full effect. The vocals are good, the production is good, the instruments are good, and the atmosphere it gives off is good. Nothing is great or original. There are countless European black metal albums about paganism that sound similar to this. I gave this album a 79 because this album is one of the best of this new breed of European pagan black metal.

The vocals are unrelenting at times, while beautiful at other times. The synth is not overdone but is used appropriately. The guitars, bass, and drums are used to make a solid musical base which at times is fierce, and sometimes give off an epic feel. There are samples used in the prologue (Surprise, surprise) and at various times throughout the album, always used appropriately.

Get this album if you love Black Metal, or are new to Black Metal. If you have heard a lot of Black Metal and are not a huge fan then this album will be forgotten after a few minutes.