Nifelheim - Envoy of Lucifer
March 24 2008 at 06:31:38 AM
How and why the high opinion of Sweden’s Nifelheim persists among the division of leather n’ spikes requires no great powers of mind. To those either for or against the haggard and hard-living coven’s mixture of arrant speed and sepulchral voices, the draw is all too apparent. And while I found myself mostly on the latter’s side while listening to
Envoy of Lucifer, there were moments where I was eagerly pulled across that hollow chasm. At best, the album is a savagely graceful rendering of Mercyful Fate, Bulldozer and Judas Priest knocked out with a skeletal drum kit and ghoulish vocals unleashed behind ancient walls. At worst, all fair melody and dulcet leads snagged from Murray and Smith, made to weep over songs like a collapsed, broken dick. (It’s no small betrayal that, as some fans on messasgeboards have noted, the lettering on the album’s cover reads more like “Candy for Lucifer”) While it’s unfair to say they’re explicitly trying to sound like Dissection, the similarities do exist. Following that is the realization that it could very well be what Watain will sound like in a few more years. Anthems like “Gates of Damnation,“ “No More Life” and the title track artfully generate raised-fist adrenaline but only as far as the lightweight tone will carry it - that well-rounded, skull-embossed sugar cube of a sound never completely rid from the momentous buildups and slashing refrains. So scowl and flash the sign, but tell me: where’s the goddamn teeth on this one?
[Todd DePalma]
_001[1].jpg "Ratt - Infestation")
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