Nordmen ‎"Vertus Guerrieres" CD

The quest continues..........
I received this album as a curious "freebie" from a distro (possibly Elegy, Nykta or Redstream I can't exactly recall) I had purchased a handful of other CDs from around 2 years ago and, as such, initially held some trepidation as to the content within. However, this was unjustifiably so. I must admit at the time the French Canadian outfit Nordmen were not of my radar at all. This release, however, shares many characteristics with the music I was actively seeking at the time. Those bands being of the Polish/Ukrainian variety, scenes that seem to be becoming ever more popular (at least within Black Metal circles). Recollections to bands such as Graveland, Fullmoon, and Astrofaes are invoked when listening to this Nordmen release.
The album starts with an ambient type intro that could be seen as cliché these days which does not capture my interest (the release would not suffer without it). The real interest begins from the second track. What we have here is some minimalistic riff based black metal. The aesthetic of this album makes me recall the Immortal Pride release of Graveland. More for the guitar tone but it does not possess the grandiose nature of the that particular release...the songs remain relatively short...the longest song coming in just over the 8 minute mark. the rhythm section plods along inoffensively allowing the slow riff transitions to set the scene. Vocals are set relatively low in the mix, giving a distant, almost ethereal felling (vocals are performed in French). The production of the album is lo-fi (significantly better than demo quality ...perhaps Transilvanian Hunger, if not better) which works to create a distinct atmosphere of the music being played in at night a remote location (perhaps in the far north Canada?). Whilst the album closes with an uneventful ambient outro, the main 5 tracks are of real quality and worth your hard earned cash, even if I was fortunate enough to receive this gem for free!

Sample: