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May have shortchanged an interested listener - 79%

erebuszine, April 29th, 2013

Unmitigated, unapologetic Darkthrone worship is what we have from this primitive, poorly-recorded, hopelessly obscure Russian project band. Two musicians pour out this work, and are credited accordingly in the lyric booklet, a "Thorn" who is responsible for the drum machine (or are they computer drums in a recording package?), lyrics and "ideological conception" (something you will never witness as the band chose to include a series of winter landscape photos in the booklet instead of texts, and the vocal style of the other member makes it almost impossible to catch anything but the slightest hint of an "ideology" if there is in fact one being illustrated here), and a "Scald" (as in "singer"?) who handles everything else and writes the music as well. So in essence what we seem to have here is a solo project of Scald's with Thorn appearing mainly to create some kind of human link in the rhythm section, to hover over the proceedings and contribute what he may through the agency of his digital percussion and "ideological concepts". I'm tempted to say "interesting" here, but that would be a lie. This is a completely unoriginal, typical band configuration. That doesn't matter, though.

How is the music? Surprisingly, given the small number of elements Northstream allows themselves and the shallow, bland palette they seek to draw their inspiration or methods of execution from, it isn't that bad at all. This is mainly because the simplistic, repetitive structures are familiar to my ear, being first offered by the Norwegians 10 years ago, and this paucity of form allows me to concentrate on the evocative, often enchantingly primitive melodies/guitar riffs on display without being lost in profitless speculations as to songwriting problems on Northstream's part. Take the vocal sound of Nocturno Culto on Darkthrone's "Panzerfaust" (that forced, redline, harsh croaking, shouting-hoarse roar), and then drape beneath it a clicking ride cymbal and kick and snare drums that are almost indistinguishable from each other, a creeping, pale, spectral mono wash of reverberating guitar, and song patterns that try to squeeze the most atmosphere out of the least material possible. This minimalist aesthetic works to Northstream's advantage in that it blends together to create a synthetic presentation in one's mind with the (frankly) beautiful packaging of the album itself (marred only by the album title actually being misspelled on the sides of the tray card), the aforementioned absence of physical or cohesive group details, the photographs of twisted trees and mist, etc. that are suitably (read: winningly, seductively, or other positive adverbs) suggestive and dream-like - enough so that Northstream's deliberate obfuscation and lust for obscurity (again, completely traditional) overcomes their lack of originality - at least in this case, on this album - and makes for an attractive release. Highlights are few, but when they appear they are entrancing. For example, consider the overtly emotional/nostalgic main riff in the fourth song, "New North", which the band knows is golden...so they return to it again and again throughout the song. It is constructed in such a way that it fully makes use of the strange guitar sound and recording aesthetic employed here to maximize the band's elaboration of wistful, melancholy atmospheres. I hope to hear more from this band in the future. As this is only 25 minutes long, however, I think they may have shortchanged an interested listener who comes to this release expecting to daydream for a good amount of time.

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

Could go either way, but hopefully upwards - 68%

Noktorn, May 2nd, 2006

Metal has changed significantly over the years. Not simply in the musical style, but in the structure and evolution of it's design. The days of albums being quantam leaps ahead of others are probably behind us for good, but this has in some respects ushered in a new age of evolution over revolution, where, true, not as many massive undertakings will be seen, but not as many children will be convinced that they are the next Burzum. Those who are evolving metal are not doing so through large conceptual leap, but through experimentation resulting in what seems to be a form of cultural natural selection, where those that work prosper, and those that don't fall into the bargain bin at your local record shop.

Northstream is one such band. While not entirely unique in composition, Northstream's combination of pagan sounding black metal with techno percussion results in an intriguing mix of old and new, despite it's crudeness. Another strike in the name of what I like to call NQNSBM (Not Quite National Socialist Black Metal), Northstream succeeds to some degree where many others have failed, namely, making modern black metal without succumbing to the wiles of industrial chaos (Anaal Nathrakh) or neoclassical orchestration (Deathspell Omega). While 'potential' is often an overused word to describe music that isn't quite bad enough to stomp on, Northstream does on this debut EP display a mixture of styles that, with some development, could mean something in the future.

First, with the bad. If you look at this purely based on songwriting, "Time Of Triumphal Cleanliness" is weak, plain and simple. Poor production forces the guitars far into the background, making recognition of already very similar (I'd imagine their copies of Transilvanian Hunger are all but worn out by now) nigh-impossible, resulting in tracks that are difficult to differentiate except through timing. On top of this is a rather tepid vocal performance that exists somewhere in the murkey waters between Attila Csihar and an angry goat. The production, while not the worst, certainly doesn't do justice to the compositions at hand, and produces an extraordinarily thin sound, except for that of the omnipresent drum machine.

It seems somewhat ironic to be hailing a drum machine as the central prize of an album, particularly in one that is supposed to be atmospheric black metal. But in this case, some deft or perhaps accidental programming results in an intriguing spin on an old formula. In most cases, the drum machine functions effectively as an ambient backdrop, although it's use in these situations is somewhat limited due to how loud it is in comparison to the stringed instruments. However, even in these cases an emphasis is set not replicating a human drummer, but placing slightly authentic-sounding techno beats into a black metal framework. One can clearly see examples of the machine slipping into full dance percussion, such as at the end of "New North", which, in combination with the folk-influenced riffs creates a novel and oddly fulfilling tone.

There is an unquantifiably mystical air about this EP. The system of it's contruction brings to mind thoughts of pagan druids given modern technology, fusing ritual magic with machine-like precision. In some ways, this review is like a teacher who coats one's paper with red ink before giving you a B. However, the atmosphere and passion in this album speaks far better than a mere description can. Give it a listen and decide for yourself. For this small group from Russia, the robotic and the organic fuse in an undeniably thoughtful way.

(Originally written for www.vampire-magazine.com)