Necro Ritual
Nerthus’ Demise ()
Wydane przez Iron Age RecordsRok wydania Kraj UKNapisał Wouter4
Apparently, this is a concept record about the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon roots of their homecountry the United Kingdom. Originally released independently in 2010 in limited numbers, but picked up by Iron Age for wider release. Why Iron Age decided this record deserved to be re-issued and distributed wider is anybody’s guess. "Nerthus’ Demise" is a lot of things, but not a record that was overlooked for no good reason. It doesn’t have the flair or drama you’d typically associate with other British black metal acts. Cradle Of Filth is all sorts of awful, but at least their earliest material had heft, blood-curdling aggression and a sense of purpose. Bathory and Venom seem to be the main inspirations, with a bit of Nordic riffing thrown in for good measure. The vocals are a mix of shrieks, grunts, spoken word and half-shouted screams. The riffing and drumming is surprisingly simple and doesn’t quite go for the jugular, as you’d expect. Forefather, Winterfylleth and Wodensthrone do the whole pagan metal thing far better than Necro Ritual ever will. The biggest problem for this band and record is how average, middle-of-the-road and unadventurous this whole thing sounds. There’s no claustrophobic or pagan atmosphere that black metal so needs, no journey to be had - the music exists, yes, but that’s about it. The main detractor of this album is how painfully mediocre the whole package is. If this was a demo recording, it could be somewhat pardoned - but this is something a label decided to pick up. There’s plenty of better black metal in the UK. This is not it.
www.ironagerecords.com
