Servants of Darkness

Black thrash metal is one of the most filthy species in the entire metalized cosmos and Nifelheim demonstrate their dirt with pride. The production sounds somewhat flat? So what! This sub genre bastard has never been interested in high fidelity. Fools like me wish that the mix would hold a little bit more depth, but we take it as it comes. Great albums have always entered the throne due to their song material and not (only) in view of an outstanding production. But that's definitely the crux of the matter. I have to admit that "Servants of Darkness" will never be a pretender to the throne, albeit this is not to say that the full-length sucks.

Nifelheim possess a certain dose of meanness and perfidy and they don't hesitate to take these features as the main pillars of their musical offering. On the one hand, this reflects the remarkable integrity of the musicians who seem to play the style they really prioritise. On the other hand, the unspoken question is: and what about the riffs? Well, Nifelheim show a solid performance, but there are not many sequences that urge me to press the repeat button. "Black Evil" creates a violent maelstrom and many further tracks have some good moments, although their riffing lies sometimes in close proximity to each other. However, the outstanding hit does not show up. The staccato of "The Bestial Avenger", to mention another example, has a certain charm, but all in all it's just a good track whose single parts do not always go hand in hand. The title track marks another very acceptable tune. Nonetheless, even a deaf man will realize that its introduction and the guitar work are heavily inspired by Venom's "Lady Lust", the lead vocals, equipped with a lot of reverb on it, sound during the verses like Quorthon (R.I.P.) in "Hades". These influences are neither a unique selling point nor a shame, I just want to make clear that the last bit of creativity is mostly missing.

On a positive note, no song lacks violence or vehemence. Every now and then, a crooked guitar solo appears and it seems as if it wants to revitalize the dead on the local cemetery. The entire full-length has a slightly dissonant touch and I guess that the Swedish gang shares Darkthrone's (former) point of view: black metal must be ugly. In alignment with this motto, the vocalist adds a proper quantum of insanity, not only in the chorus of the closer, and therefore I am not speaking about a mediocre or even bad output. I just cannot ignore the feeling that Nifelheim could have done it much better, because all conditions had been fulfilled when it came to the crunch: competent and pretty experienced musicians, a promising style, the right attitude. Be that as it may, "Servants of Darkness" is a stable work and filthy enough to be worshipped by some maniacs. And filth, I have mentioned it in the first paragraph, is truly an important detail in terms of black thrash.

I am in a state of shock...

This record rocks like the devil fucking a flamethrower while careening down an iced mountain in a Greyhound bus. Slayer...Iron Maiden...Bathory...Venom...it's all mixed into one giant bag here. The playing is tight and militant, the vocals are scathing as razors and the production is tight as a drum. I'd even say that these guys are what Venom would have been had they went to music school and actually worshipped Satan! Marching...evil...deadly...these boys really DO have it all.

The standout track here (and lost black metal classic) is the marching "Black Evil". Few black metal songs have captured the essence of what black metal really is like this number. "War Doom" and " Servants of Darkness" also provides some amazing guitar sections as well, adding some much needed personality to the record. This record sucessfully breeds Slayer, Venom and Di'Anno era Iron Maiden into one release.

Impressive.

Nifeleim are a nasty bunch of black metal bastards who deserve your money and attention. The guitarwork is amazing, the vibe is nasty as fuck and these boys obviously took the best aspects of Venom as seriously as they should have. It's rare to find a band with such skill and ass-kicking power still praising the black arts. Commendable in these times of basement quality black metal mindlessness.

It's among the top tier of the Venom/Slayer mix breeds to ever exist.

BUY OR DIE!!!