Nûr Part I

This band is pure underground. No contact mail or the sort, there is also no homepage to be found in the internet and even rapidshare links do not exist; at least when I searched for them. Well, the tape is quite minimalist in its design and the total amount of information written down in it, had been kept to a minimum. Yet there are three words printed around an inverted cross: arrogance on the left side, indifference on the right and hate on the bottom of it. Well, I leave the interpretation to you.

And what about the music?

Raw Black Metal… this term is quite fitting to this music, yet the band is able to create a really unique atmosphere, well, in the first track, Dol Middia Fur I, of this demo and this is better than nothing. It is not easy to find a proper description of the band’s music as it switches between the two offered songs. Whereas the first one has some parts of a slower tempo, these are also those with the best atmosphere, the second one reaches for the higher speed and is more linear and repetitive. Therefore are also the arrangements of the guitars and drums different, left aside that of the vocals, but their style is rather dominated by the instruments and hence their performance should be discussed elsewhere.

Dol Middia Fur I

Despite the aggressive and fast opening of the track, it later progresses into midtempo and really nice riffs are able to create a somehow strange but unique atmosphere. Somehow the play of the guitars creates a sound similar to those trumpets on Nile’s In Their Darkened Shrines album. This part is a quite intense listening experience and also the outstanding one of NûR on their first demo. Nonetheless is the performance of the drums a little bit out of place and their play evolves for the worse after the nice motives; judging from the motives of the beginning of the song. There the variation in the cymbals motive can be noted as a positive aspect, whereas the whole performance vanishes later into plainness and nothing outstanding is offered.


Gaergësifultë

The title of this track arouses suspicion…suspicion towards the LLN scene ("The Black Legions" (Les Legions Noires)) in France. The writing of the name is simply too much out of the common to not to see the resemblance of the title with this ‘lëgëndâry’ scene. If my line of though is correct, is something I am not able to verify, as I have no contact address at hand respectively available that would enable me to contact the band on this matter. Yet the music of this track does also very well fit into the aforementioned category, as it is very monotonous and excessively noisy. The promising opening of Gaergësifultë hardly prepares the listener of what to expect later. Violent pondering of drums, with the snare quite in the foreground, a lot of eruptions of blasts and hardly anything that would break out of this monotony noisy Black Metal sound. There are some short breaks and also variation in the motives, but the previously sketched path is never really left by NûR. Some words on the vocals: in contrast to a lot of underground Black Metal bands, they are not mixed in the foreground and are dominating the music thereby. Guitars as well as drums play a mayor role in this release and the screams lack simply of power to overcome this shortcoming. Their mix has had a negative effect on them and therefore they are not able to add to the music some atmosphere; despite their solid performance.

The points of criticism should be obvious: production, mix, arrangement etc. There are some nice ideas on this demo, but they are too scarcely to fascinate a broader spectrum beyond the deep underground. NûR Part I is listenable, but only if the flaws are neglected and the listener familiar with the short-coming of small bands. 55 points are adequate for this release.


Recommendation: Dol Middia Fur I


Short:

Performance: raw Black Metal with occasionally
Production: the aforementioned genre description should point to what to expect
Song-writing: two long songs… repetition can hardly be prohibited.
Annoying: mixing, drumming often too monotonous, production, variation on Gaergësifultë
Booklet: nice, but very minimalist designed.
Length: about 25 minutes

On a small side-note: My mere chance I received a contact address, whereas it might be possible to verify my assumptions.