![]() ![]() The third song, “Medusa’s Labyrinth”, is another long one, and further evidence of how wide-ranging Xanathar’s musical inspirations and talents are. The relent comes in the EP’s second track, “Four Winds”, which is a wondrous, panoramic fashioning of dungeon synth, as lush and beautiful as the first song is riotous. “The Test of Fate” is a fairly long song and I thought it might relent at some point, but it doesn’t. The fusion of epic heavy metal and raw, blasting black metal made me think at times of the music of Rebel Wizard, which is high praise. They blare, spasm, swirl, and cascade in tremendously exultant and electrifying fashion, buttressed by hyper-blasting percussion and unhinged screams, though the music also incorporates passages of forlorn darkness through deeper tones, albeit without easing the hell-for-leather pacing. The blazing glory of the riffs in the first song, “The Test of Fate”, hooked me immediately. The most recent of those EPs, The Towers, was released two days ago. The Italian one-man band Xanathar was born last year and has released two EPs so far this year, both of them lyrically based on the PC RPG game Eye of the Beholder 2, dedicated to the Heroes of Darkmoon. In short, Fenriir is another terrific addition to Nordjevel’s very strong catalogue. Nordjevel’s rendition of “Fallen Angel” is grand, galvanizing, and grim, and the live performance of “Det Ror og Ror” is utterly savage but the music is also laced with feelings of desolation and grief. The other two songs are also well worth having. While “Rovdyr” goes on the attack in frightening, preternatural fashion, it’s also an eerie, stalking beast Dominator’s drumwork is also wonderfully dynamic. “Gnawing The Bones” is even faster, more feverishly berserk, and more brazenly (and breathlessly) glorious. But while “Fenriir” is searing and head-hooking, it’s also stately and gloom-cloaked. The power of the riff has not deserted Nordjevel on the three new songs, nor has the jet fuel in Dominator’s veins been replaced by real blood. And finally, there’s a cover of “Fallen Angel” by Possessed (with whom Nordjevel toured in 2019). ![]() In addition to those, the EP includes a live version of “Det Ror Og Ror”, which was recorded during the band’s performance at Brutal Assault in 2019 by Hugo Alvarstein. The title track and “Rovdyr” are new tracks that the band decided not to include on their upcoming album, while “Gnawing The Bones” actually will be included on that album. It consists of five tracks of different origins, and the line-up includes Doedsadmiral on vocals, Destructhor and Valla on guitars, Dzepticunt on bass, and Dominator on drumsįenriir is the name of the EP. I’m late in getting to the newest EP by these NCS favorites. (Visit Bandcamp here to check out a second song from this release.) A militaristic drum pattern announces a change, with swinging, swaggering, and swirling riffs and scorching blasts of vocal ferocity giving the song a healthy dose of feral, carnal energy - though it becomes cold and cruel before the end. The heaviness of the bass and the hammering of the drums give the song visceral punch and power, but the mood of the music is severely desolate and distraught, with a haunting feeling of isolation and abandonment that’s matched by the frozen vistas in the video. This one is for a song named “ Mörkri” from Ondfødt’s new album Norden (their third full-length), which is set for release by Immortal Frost Productions on July 30th. Part 1 of today’s column was entirely devoted to videos, and I thought I’d begin Part 2 with another one. I decided to include three new EPs of very different styles, and to bookend them with one advance track from a forthcoming record and one song that opens a recently released album. Reporting to you today from the hellish Pacific Northwest heat dome, where the second highest temperature ever recorded in Seattle at any time of the year happened yesterday and new records will be set today and tomorrow, I bring you Part 2 of today’s expanded column devoted to black-ish metal.
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