Age of Fire

Nastrond are a band who's name has been swirling around the underground since the mid 90s, and I remember one of my friends specifically having the debut album, "Toteslaut" around that time... and yet for some reason, they never really made a splash on the black metal scene or got any real recognition. Now if you read the other reviews of this band's early material, you might get the impression that this is because of an unfortunate "wrong place, wrong time" situation, but one listen to this sophomore record makes it instantly obvious why... the band simply isn't very good.

One of the frustrating aspects of that is, in a way, the whole package is false advertising. From the logo, the attitude, the track titles, this is a clear example of a band that is all style and no substance.

It's not about originality vs. generic mediocrity, because there has to be something to support that. The band plays a type of style that, admittedly, nobody else did around that time: a kind of bizarre hybrid of early Samael, Rotting Christ, and Abigor (Supreme Immortal Art-era), if you can imagine what that would be like. Or COULD be like, in the hands of skilled songwriters.

Perhaps I should be fair and mention that there are good riffs scattered about (almost entirely during the slow dirges), but they are surrounded by others that should have remained on the editing room floor, and some that sound like the kind of very first riffs you ever write when you start playing black metal but then quickly put to bed ("Consecration of the Flame" is particularly bad for this)...... but even that isn't the worst offender here... the problem is that this is one of the most sloppily put together black metal records that I have ever heard.

I actually have bands in my collection (Baltak, Darkthule, mid-era Judas Iscariot, etc - bands that you could also perhaps accuse of style over substance if you wanted to) which are technically sloppier than this, but at least something is present to give them their charms, however campy. Some type of cohesiveness.

I struggled to find that on this album. Very few of the transitions are clean, and the guitars only sync with the drums during the slow sections or when a faster riff gets itself moving. The guitars themselves cannot even keep up with each other during some of the fast sections, despite the fact that there is only ONE FUCKING GUITAR PLAYER on the god-damn lineup. The bass starts or ends after a phrase has already completed, and the drums sound like a sloppy drummer played a fully electronic kit with no actual "real" drums anywhere in the studio, and hit the pads as hard as he could, with no bounce, no rhythm, nothing. As I said before, there are times the band is in sync and when the passages work well, but overall you can count those on your hands.

It's as if the whole thing was put together by an inexperienced teenager, and it's incredibly frustrating, because you always get the feeling that something more is beyond the horizon but the band is out of gas long before they get there.

But I think the real problem with this type of switching from tightness to sloppiness is that the production, grating to the ears, turns every mistake from a nuisance to a travesty. The drums make mid-era Krisiun sound like "De Mysteriis..." and the guitar tone is simply awful, one of the most over-produced, fake-sounding distortions that you can get. You can have shit production, or sloppy playing, on a black metal record, but you can't have both, without becoming a joke.

Speaking of jokes, "The Red Force of the Trapezoid" has some ridiculous atmospheric additions, in the form of a very soft-pounding drum in between phrases, very reminiscent of Abigor as I mentioned earlier, but with only a fraction of the self-confidence that the Austrians display. A lack of self-confidence is probably a good way to describe these particular sections, because it almost sounds like the band isn't sure that it's doing the right thing when they incorporate it.

The next song, "Emancipation", has one of the weakest keyboard mid-sections in the genre. Both this song and the previous one could have been the 2 songs that saved this album based on the guitar riffs alone, but those questionable additions make the whole listening experience feel like you just walked out of your house with no pants on.

So why the 57%? To put simply, there is a dark ambient vibe, along with some exclusively non-metal tracks and interludes, that are fantastic and I loved them. Especially "Opening of the Mouth" I liked immensely, a monologue, a satanic oration set to an ominous and eerie background. On that note, I can appreciate what this band was trying to achieve on this record, but the actual metal-music sections left a lot to be desired in comparison with the rest of the package.

I kind of want to check out the debut since I heard that although the drums are sloppier (hard to imagine), for some reason the transitions work better and the guitar tone is less inhuman and more organic. I'll probably give it a shot because I am, in fact, curious. But even judging by the mixed reactions to their newest record on Debemur Morti Productions, the impression I get is that this band really never was more than below average, have continued this legacy of under-achievement, and their placement in the genre's hierarchy (or lack thereof) is entirely based on their own merits.

Age of Fire is the second album of Sweden's Nåstrond, and while it offers the same unusual brand of ritual-endowed black metal, I found it to be an even step down from its predecessor. Here, the band's lyrics would swerve almost unanimously towards Satanism, which for this period was not quite as contextually appealing as the exotic necromancy that dominated the debut Toteslaut. Then again, this focused direction does very well suit the sophomore's atmosphere of primal percussion, raw guitars and simmering, sinful snarls, and the Swedes certainly make it interesting through a series of sadistic and often titillating lyrics, available within this Frostscald re-issue (which also fosters a new, albeit less iconic cover image).

Gone is the warm, grave soil tone of the guitars on Toteslaut, and to be truthful, I found the production to this album somewhat flat. Tracks like "Womb of Chaos" and "Une Charogne" try to overcome this through the sheer power of riffs, but I also feel like these have a mildly lesser character, even if they offer a more diverse palate of dynamics. The sounds here are a lot more similar to the crude early material of Norse bands like Emperor and Burzum, only not as fluid in the quality of specific guitars. What holds Age of Fire above the ultimate, final flames of attrition is the incorporation of creepy, lo-fi synthesizers, pianos and narrative, pitch shifted vocals through the conceptual miasma. There are also a number of pure ritual or dark ambient tracks like the "Age of Fire" itself, a driving percussive vocal tribute to the blazing element favored by the priests of Hell, and "The Great Below", which is the sort of grim, instrumental set piece the band will further explore in the curious, non-metal Celebration of the Four.

Despite its various shortcomings, Age of Fire is still a good album, thoroughly provocative if slightly less effectual in the actual metal riffing. The album uses appropriate samples of readings from both the Holy and Satanic Bibles, and the lyrics in general are quite good regardless of your personal investment in the subject matter. The rasping vocals do not seem as inspired or venomous as the debut, but they're still adequate, and a number of songs like "The Four" and the ghastly "Consecration of the Flame" offer enough of a hostile, obscure environment in which to revel. I wouldn't hold it up against many of the Swedish classics of its day, because it is simply too crude and categorically outclassed, but if you're looking for a grim treatise on the Prince of Darkness, you could certainly come up a lot shorter than this.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

“Age of Fire” is a top-notch black metal album, once again steering way clear of the typical melodic Swedish black metal sound. Gone are the more traditional evil/medieval themes that characterised much of “Toteslaut”. This time the music is proud, bombastic, ritualistic, profound and confident yet the band’s distinctive raging sound is preserved. The ritualistic/ambient aspect of the music has been increased, as there are five ambient tracks on this album. Also some of the metal tracks feature ambient parts this time. Creating an occult atmosphere seems to have been very important to the band and they also succeed in doing so. “Age of Fire” seems to be a personal album, which takes an in-depth look at the band’s beliefs. The lyrics concentrate heavily on traditional Satanic and Luciferian themes plus the theme of war and liberation of the physical existence and mind. The band are on a mission to invoke the sinister archetypes.

On this album Nåstrond definitely performs Nordic black metal but at the same time it’s hard to compare them to any other Nordic black metal bands. They add their own touch to the Nordic sound and twist it into their own use rather than copying anyone. The production on “Age of Fire” is very different from the debut. The guitars have a thick yet very distorted sound and the drums sound quite artificial. They’ve been triggered but this actually gives them a kind of hardness that fits the sound picture. I recommend just trying to get used to the drum sound on this album. The black metal vocals differ from “Toteslaut” in the sense that they have distortion on them this time. Karl’s clean ceremonial vocals have been pitch-shifted lower to good effect. As a whole, the sound is strangely mechanical and cold, there’s no warmth to be found here. Overall the playing is much tighter than on “Toteslaut”, this goes especially for the drumming. Unlike “Toteslaut”, “Age of Fire” has most of the lyrics printed in the booklet. This makes it possible to get really deep into the music and experience it on a personal level, which is something I appreciate.

After a short prologue with narration by drummer Arganas, the album starts properly with the title track. It’s a ritualistic piece on which Karl summons Satan and proclaims the age of fire – the stage is set! The first metal track “Winged Phallus (Ferocious Angel)” treats us to a very dark part with an invocation spoken with the low-pitched ceremonial vocals I mentioned earlier. This part reminds me of the narration parts Peter Gilmore has done for Acheron and I like it very much. “The Four” is a one of the best songs, combing raging yet grand black metal riffing with some ritualistic ceremonial vocals and sound effects the way only Nåstrond can do it. You can almost feel the black energy flowing from the speakers when listening to this song. I especially like the way the line “Flame of hell burn bright and strong!” is said. I feel like there’s some real meaning behind this line instead of it being nothing more than “usual black metal lyrics”. “Une Chargone” follows the same formula to equally great effect: grand razor sharp riffing and blastbeats combined with a mid-tempo ritualistic part containing keyboards and some sampled narration.

“The Great Below” is the only track that I don’t like. It’s an ambient track and regrettably one those of repetitive and boring ones. If it’s meant to reflect the underworld in some way I don’t think it does a very good job of it. Fortunately the three following tracks bring back the black metal combined with ritualistic ambient magic. Especially “Emancipation” is a true highlight of the latter part of the album thanks to its dense occult feel created by the invocation parts. Just like it starts, the album closes with two non-metal tracks. Both contain pro-Satanic declarations, which provide the listener with some food for thought. It’s clear that a lot of work has gone into this album. “Age of Fire” stands head and shoulders above all average black metal bands that are content with producing generic music and being followers in general.