Limited to 1000 copies. CD in jewel case with 4 pages black/white booklet.
Track 8 Darkthrone cover!!
All guitar structures were written between Summer 2008. Recorded and mixed at Moloch studio (Ukraine) by Sergiy Fjordsson in late Autumn 2008 with Reel-to-reel/open-reel [audio] 4-trx tape recorder. Here are distorted bass were used on this album, as well as the old tube amplifiers and pedals. No mastering were done !
For this release I am going to have to break down some of the album review into a song by song basis, because of the fact that there are different playlists for both the promo, and regular releases. Thus, the first two songs that I will speak of is Niflheimr, and Muspellsheimr. Niflheimr/Muspellsheimr: The first track Niflheimr takes quite a while to get going...and it is a very quiet dark ambient track with minimalistic tendencies, and is very hollow, whispering sounding track. There is a droning bassline, that fades in and out, with some layered ambience, and has a nice depressive feeling to it. Seeing as Niflheim is the "Mist World" in Norse mythology, it is a very fitting title, and the music is just as aptly composed. Muspellsheimr is the land of fire, in Norse mythology. Another very long track, it once again takes some time to get moving. Unfortunately, it is a smoldering ember, and lacks the punch I expected from a song that should capture the rage of the sons of Muspel, who are to destroy Bifrost, and end all time.
The other tracks that are black metal, with depressive connotations, some songs with drum programs, others with minimal, and still other tracks with no drum work at all. Nonetheless, the tracks are very well produced, and the guitarwork is thick and full, and the vocals are excellent. Stylistic in the vein of Brocken Moon, Sergiy wails his anguish, and sounds great, not nearly as ear-splitting as he sounded on Eihwaz, and there is good reverb to the mix, that adds to the atmospheric guitar work. The riffs are simple, yet effective and sound very good; fitting in with all aspects of the metal tracks in the album.
The Darkthrone cover has very heavy synth, coupled with the drum machine and is much unlike the original song. The drums are light and fluffy, the synth is quite like Burzum's Hildskjalf era, and is not really that great. It doesn't fit at all with the dark, and foreboding atmosphere of the rest of the album.
The final track on the full length is a track called Microcosmos, a synthesizer-laden ambient piece with nice pseudo-orchestral progressions, with the omnipresent thundering of a storm in the background. This is a fantastic ending for this album, and if the Darkthrone cover track was not there, would be a well-rounded album incorporating excellent use of the realms of depressive style black metal, and dark ambient. Alas, the cover song throws too much of a wrench in the works and has derailed the train before it arrived at the last track. Sad, because the rest of the album is fantastic.
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
