Völd

Although the second album from Icelandic black metal band Nyrst starts with blastbeat battering, it features mostly slow music. Sometimes their lavatic invocations even sound like depressive black metal, but on second thoughts their melodies are more trepidatious than tragic or dead inside. Tremolo picking is the main guitar technique on the whole album, although Blasphemer's signature moves are used sometimes, i.e. riffs with palm muting and a slight dissonance (the finale of 'Völd', 'Eilíft Eldhaf' in the beginning, as well as 'Af Fjarri Ströndum').

The use of the term depressive black metal also suggests itself because the vocals are very similar to Niklas Kvarforth. Oh yes, there are a lot of vocals on "Völd", the vocalist sings/yells tirelessly. So far, so good, but you may not like that the album is extremely uneven, the theme of the songs is not consistent at all. After 'Völd', rich with piercing melodies, the second 'Sundra Skal Sálu' is perceived as somewhat trivial, while the next 'Hrímvíti' is a vivacious mid-tempo piece, even militant.

'Eilíft Eldhaf' is actually built on the same motif in different riffs, which are sometimes somewhat abstract, sometimes more typical of the genre; anyway, it is a very original composition, the rest are a bunch of hackneyed clichés compared to it. 'Drottnari Nafnlausra Guða' seems meaningless after 'Eilíft Eldhaf'. The final 'Af Fjarri Ströndum' captivates at first with a rather original melody, but in the end it turns out to be forced and contrived. Well, if you are not in love with Icelandic black metal, you are unlikely to remember this album.

Metalegion # 14