Following the Frostpaths of the Hyperborean Landscapes

Ugly color palette aside, the Nargothrond debut Following the Frostpaths of the Hyperborean Landscapes is likely to appeal to the solitary, wandering spirit within the core of any desolate black metal fan. On its surface, this is about as unremarkable and unassuming as the genre gets: almost numbing, blasted drums give support to a slew of streaming, desperate melodies perfect for a lone trek across the wasteland of the imagination. Bloody, yawning rasps are barked in sadistic succession across the dense, clotted guitar riffs, and the very notion of dynamic variation could be seen only as a setback. Almost every guitar line is battered out to its predictable end, culling the obvious influences of Darkthrone, Immortal, Bathory and so forth into a paternal, predictable matrix of fanaticism.

But does it have a deeper layer to it? The answer is unfortunately no. Nargothrond wears its hoarse, Norse pride upon its sleeve, and the weight of its impact will rely solely on just how much space the audience has for another band of this type. To their credit, the chords here meted out in fluid might, especially in "Aurora Nocturnis, A Ravenstar Among the Nebular Skies" (uh huh) and its fist pumping momentum; or the Hellhammer/Darkthrone worship inherent to "Through the Forest of Frozen Storms". If you were in for a quick fix of the familiar, then this would not be a bad record to mount on the turntable to get yourself in the mood for tracking bloodied footprints in the snow or draining the mead-horn. The production is loud and bright, and though the bass sort of just blends into the nothingness beneath the guitars, the latter seem strong enough to carry the cranium-banging to the exclusion of the other instruments. As for the vocals, well, there's just not much to them...meaty and bitter but mediocre.

In the end, then, the one thing that distinguishes Following the Frostpaths of the Hyperborean Landscapes from its countless, newsprint-toned neighbors would be the gaudy color scheme. Even from Greece, there have already been a large number of Scandinavian derivatives, so the most I can say for Nargothrond is that they're not at all bad, but not unique enough that I'd track them down for any other reason than desiring a quantity of the same. I dig the Tolkien inspiration of the name, and I dig their earnest simplicity and loyalty to the black metal ethos. I merely wish that a hint of creativity or subtlety might have been flexed here to a greater effect than the burgeoning muscle of the chords alone, which in due time seem rather bland.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Nargothrond fit perfectly into the category of black metal that I love. They fit into the same group as the old classics...Bathory, Burzum, Darkthrone...aswell as the great modern black metal albums from the underground that get very little notice but are pure gold, and they all have one thing in common. They mix an integral, real feel and atmosphere with genuinely good songwriting.

Hell of a lot of black metal bands miss this. Many of them have a great feeling - nearly every decently produced black metal demo with passable musicians sounds good on first listen, but the songwriting is just not there - the bands tend to just not have good riffs, favouring the same old tremelo-picks, same old punk power chords, same old monotone rasped vocal pattern, and you start to realise that while the demo makes good, dark background music it always stays as background music.

Likewise, there are bands from the other side of the spectrum too. It's no secret that I like Cradle of Filth. Many mainstream bands come to mind like this, bands that are writing good riffs, good songs but just don't stick with the traditional Darkthrone/Bathory school of sound, and eventually you start to realise the music is barely black metal in nature at all, still they make great heavy metal, but when you're in the mood for black metal, you find that Cradle of Filth and such only contain the superficial elements.

And then there are bands like Nargothrond. Bands that take that original black metal feel, that original ideal and aesthetic - and use their talent as musicans to write great, engaging riffs that flow together perfectly in the song. Thus is the spirit of real black metal. Nargothrond are similiar to Darkthrone in ways, except tuned to a different emotional frequency, the riff work makes this have a sort of longing emotion to it. I wouldn't call it suicidal black metal, but there is a depressive element. 'Of Comets and Constellations' starts off aggressive and oppressive, before turning a bit more melodic and emotional (I mean in the 'Crossing the Triangle of Flames' sense, not the boring Drudkh sense) before turning back aggressive again. The flow is immense, one riff flows from the other perfectly and the production - studio worthy but not in anyway overally cleaned up, aids this well.

The vocals are another thing that do it aswell. In the same way as Dead or Nocturno Culto the vocalist simply cries out the lyrics in an evil, anguished manner - nothing special or superficially impressive, which is exactly where the charm comes from. Sometimes it ranges from mid-pitched shrieked stuff to a more aggressive, almost punk-like bark. As I said, very Nocturno - just the guy's ordinary voice, full of real black metal conviction.

A very fine example of good black metal in an all too sterile, modern, unblack world.