Ninkharsag - Destroyed By Design

Self Released 2011

1.Introduction (The Anunnaki) 2.The Dawn Of The Age Of Aquarius

3.Destroyed By Design

Black metal horde Ninkharsag have only been together as a band since early 2011 but already have a 2 track demo written, recorded and released; and what an impressive introduction to the band this is. Lurking firmly in the ‘old school black metal’ vein, the band has produced some absolute quality old school, grim, necro black metal. ‘Destroyed by Design’ opens up with ‘Introduction (The Anunnaki)’, an eerie ‘backwards talking’ intro with screams and industrial soundscapes, it sounds like someone (or something) is being tortured to death, a good start! First ‘actual’ track, ‘The Dawn of The Age of Aquarius’ is next up, the bands influences instantly obvious as there is an overall feeling of ‘Mayhem’ (De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas era) here, the guitar sound, the drum sound all suggesting that the afore mentioned masters of black metal are a massive influence on the band. Having said that the bands aren’t just Mayhem clones, they hold their own brilliantly, crafting some very memorable songs which really grab your attention. Vocals are scathing and hateful as you would expect, spouting demonic tales of woe.

 ‘Destroyed By Design’ then follows, slightly more melody on show than with the previous track, the riff which ends the track is so catchy and so fucking black metal. Within this track there’s definitely a hint of Enslaved on show, especially with the opening riffs. However, it’s a strange beast of a track, only lasting 1:53 which is really disappointing. No sooner has the track found its footing, and then it has ended. As mentioned, the riffing in this track is really catchy, an all-out black metal masterpiece, but unfortunately the track ends up sounding like the band have run out of ideas, hence the short time scale. Showing so much promise, it really should have lasted a lot longer and there are obviously reasons that only the band knows as to why the track is so short. Having said that, this 2 track demo is amazing, for such a young band they show a great deal of promise. They are ticking all the right boxes and have definitely found ‘their sound’ which yes, may be drenched with the Mayhem sound, but is very unique to the UK underground.

Ninkharsag need to get an e.p. or full length out soon, because if the band continues to write such well-crafted black metal songs, they can’t fail to impress, unless impressing people is un-kvlt of course! Disregarding the shortness of the tracks, it’s a very impressive first release.

7 out of 10