Tuesday 11 February 2014

Nordland - The True Cult Of The Earth

Glorious North Productions 2013
 
1.The Great Hall of the Sky 2.Dawn Calling of Thunor 3.Eithtelor
4.Heathen Lands 5.I Am the Winds of the Earth 6.A Mound to Lay My Bones Upon 
7.Crows
 
‘The True Cult Of The Earth’ is the second full length album from one man black metal band Nordland. Having praised the band’s first album, this second offering promised a lot from Vorh and his misanthropic brand of Black Metal. Opening Track ‘The Great Hall Of The Sky’ is an absolute monster of a track, being the longest on the album and clocking in at just over thirteen minutes. It does however have a lot to offer, beginning slowly and mournfully in extremely grim fashion, the ‘moaned’ vocals and very slow, doom laden pace makes for a very sombre opening passage. There is a change of pace, a faster blast beat section being used, but overall the pace of the song is kept to a minimum throughout the majority of its life which in all honesty is where the song sounds at its best. Haunting atmospheres, windswept soundscapes all make for a chilling, haunting and utterly devastating opening track. The fact that the song is over thirteen minutes is insignificant as you get drawn into the utter morbidity on offer, and time becomes irrelevant as the music takes over. ‘Dawn Calling Of Thunor’ is introduced through the use of a bellowing horn before the harsh and scathing black metal riffs take over. There is a slight increase in pace as the song gradually comes to life, but this doesn’t last long, the slower more mournful pace used so successfully in the opening track again implemented here to great effect. These slower paces are so much more effective. However, there are some really catchy guitar lines which utilise a faster pace which really gives the song a truly epic feel. Great Stuff!
‘Eithtelor’ is an extremely hypnotic track, very simple in composition, seemingly stripped back to a minimum in terms of song writing. That’s not a criticism, as the simplicity this song offers is key to its success. Again, short passages of fast blast beat, hate-filled passages are introduced and sound extremely effective here and once again makes for a very effective black metal offering. ‘Heathen Lands’ is the shortest song on the album, but still comes in at well over five minutes long and is another fine example of very catchy and epically atmospheric black metal. There’s almost ‘Immortal feel’ to this track, both musically and vocally which isn’t a bad thing at all as again, its catchy and its epically grim and makes for great sounding black metal. ‘I Am The Winds Of The Earth’ is fantastic, the pace has been upped, there’s a greater sense of urgency to this track which has a more traditional feel to it, i.e. the faster drumming, the faster picked, harsh guitars and the utterly scathing vocal delivery. Vorh has a great ability to write compelling black metal, no matter what the speed, be it the slower of faster, the end result is still first rate, catchy and memorable! ‘A Mound To Lay My Bones’ follows on in similar fashion, differing paces again utilised to great effect albeit with a more punishing and exhaustive approach. The haunting atmospheres heard in the earlier tracks rear their ugly heads again as the song ends its existence in devastating fashion. Brilliant! The simply titled ‘Crows’ ends this monstrous album, all sixty-one minutes of it, and it takes a slightly different approach to anything heard so far, taking on a more chaotic approach in places. To its credit, the song does offer up a mix of everything heard throughout all of the other songs and draws the album to a close in brilliantly epic fashion. The pace is slowed down as the song starts to draw to an end, the tension slowly building into a morose atmosphere before another ferocious barrage of blast beats are unleashed upon the listener which actually take you by surprise. Quite unexpected, but sounding perfect and placed brilliantly. Once again, Vorh has produced another master-class in stunning, atmospheric and truly brilliant black metal and coming from one man makes it all the more impressive. If you enjoyed his debut album, then ‘The True Cult Of The Earth’ is a cd you must hear. There’s no faulting this album at all, that’s how good it really is. Seven epic tracks of harsh, yet atmospheric black metal executed flawlessly and played with utter conviction, its another Nordland album that very highly recommended.
 
8.5 out of 10
 
Band Page: Here
Buy It: Here

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