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Naglfar: Harvest

29/01/07 || Lord K Philipson

This review will be written by 2 of us from GD. Why? Becoz staffer The Abyss got his panties in a bunch when he saw I already covered it and since he’s been sucking the cocks of Naglfar (also known as being a “fan” of the band) for years he begged me (and sucked my cock) to have the chance of writing one as well. I can’t say nay to our fave Asian so I let him do a coverage as well. First off is mine:

I thought “Sheol” was a damn fine album. I thought follower “Pariah” was even better (but only after countless of listening sessions), and eventually it became my fave piece by these guys. I never gave a shit about the other discs these evil mofo’s released, simply becoz the 2 mentioned ones outshines them by far. “Harvest” is something I have looked forward to for a very long time, actually ever since Naglfar stole the spoken words in the intro for “Pariah” from my own TPH’s “When we are done, your flesh will be ours” title. It’s smart to steal from the best. Fuck that now with a ten foot pole becoz…

“Harvest” is here.

But… but… but… after going thru the album quite a few times, I’m not completely blown away. It hurts to admit it, but my expectations were probably too high (after “Sheol” and “Pariah” they were bound to be so) for this recording. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no way that the Naglfar of today could release anything remotely bad, this is just not as fucken killer as I thought and expected it to be. I was sure I’d get something along the lines of a 8.5 to 9 rating. Well, they almost succeeded. Let’s move forward, shall we?

While “Pariah” opened with the fantastic (fuck the intro, I’m talking about the first actual song) “A swarm of plagues”, “Harvest” kicks off with “Into The Black”. Definitely not a song that makes as strong a impression for a starter of an album as the aforementioned one. The Dissection vibes are definitely present (like in alot of stuff by Naglfar) and it’s a decent tune, just not something that makes me fall off my chair and scream “Hey! Look at my penis! It’s all red and stuff!“

So much for a first impression.

The album picks up though, little by little. “Breathe Through Me” would have made for a better opener. True Naglfar-ish metal, catchy and ferocious, as we know it . Naglfar’s strongest thing is definitely the nice melodies they use all over the place. “The Mirrors Of My Soul” gives us just that, complete with pounding drums and double kicks. This is how I like my Nagl. Thumbs up for the chorus riff.

“Odium Generis Humani” is decent with its furious blasts from the get-go. The stoppage in the middle reeks of an evil and melodic atmosphere. The tune picks up from there while ending in a short’n‘sweet keyboard thing. “The Darkest Road” is definitely one of the stronger tunes on “Harvest”. Quite unexpected and über-catchy chorus-riffing in this one. Doesn’t exactly sound like your typical Naglfar. I dig.

“Way Of The Rope” is the ABC of Naglfar’s alphabet without it actually grabbing any balls. Definitely one of the weaker (probably the weakest) tunes on this offering. The nice moody ending is not enough to save this track. “Plutonium Reveries” does a better job at everything compared to the last one. Here we get the memorable guitars we are used to, the penis we are used to and the usual slow parts Naglfar’s so good at when they are at their peak. Tons of Dissection harmonies in here as well and it all sounds very fine.

“Feeding Moloch” starts off with a nice piano/guitar thing before unleashing complete hell upon us. Relentless stuff that really shows what Naglfar’s capable of. This is the Naglfar I take great liking in. Probably the best tune of the album and that lead-riff makes my ass burn. (Maybe I shouldn’t write this review sitting on the oven after all?)

Ending tune/title track “Harvest” sports a fucken awful bass sound for starters though the intro itself is very nice and all. Complete with (ofcourse) a melodic bridge, nice guitar things scattered all over and its slow tempo, this one is a good choice to finish off the album with. Not to mention the beautiful piano in the end. Perfect to round this album off. And that’s prolly why it was written in the first place, duh.

Anyways…

One thing they definitely did better this time around is the production. Gone are the incredibly annoying drums from “Pariah” and the whole soundscape makes for a better Naglfar costume. It’s just a shame the actual tunes aren’t as awesome. But who knows, I initially preferred “Sheol” to “Pariah” which later changed. Maybe that’s the case with this one as well… Time will tell.

And to round this off… Morgan Lie (bass) just became a permanent member of the band after touring with them and helping out writing some of the music for “Harvest”. I don’t know if he actually plays on the album but I’ll list him for bass duties anyways, in case you are wondering.

8/10.

They deserve an 8 though some parts, and a tune or 2, are kinda meh. In the longrun, Naglfar creates fantastic black/death metal and pisses on alot of bands of today. And with that score, it’s time for me to put on “Pariah”. Or maybe “Sheol”. Or maybe something by Blümchen. “Harvest” is close to killer, but it’s no Blümchen.

And this is what The Abyss had to say about “Harvest”:

To say that I was impressed with “Pariah” by these Swedish black metal soldiers would be like saying global warming is sort of fucking with the weather this winter. A gross fucking understatement. Thus it is with baited breath I await the latest album by Naglfar, dubbed “Harvest”.

The first thing that hits me is that the production and mix is really vibrant and good. I liked the production of “Pariah” but in retrospect it had a sharp and digital sound to it that got on my nerves after the 30th spin or so. This doesn’t seem likely to occur here. The bass is a lot louder and more clearly defined (both the instrument and the frequencies) and the drums have a more natural sound to them.

Anypoo, with that out of the matter, what about the songs then? Well, my first impression is that they might not be as catchy and filled with sing-along choruses as “Pariah” was but that they are nonetheless strong and will grow with each listen. That is not to say that they lack memorable fancies when it comes to instrumental hooks, lyrics or other such details. They’re just not as upfront this time around. The overall style is the one that Naglfar has honed and perfected over the years, and it’s obvious they have found a sound and feeling that they are comfortable with and know how to squeeze the best out of. The opening track, “Into the black”, is like the blueprint of how Scandinavian melodic black is done and I am for the first time forced to admit that yes, there is some resemblance to old Dissection. Luckily, Naglfar is still better than Dissection’s entire discography. “The Mirrors of my soul” starts of with a really sweet melody and a terrific drumpattern drives the song home, making it an instant favourite of mine and…

Fuck it, I can’t be arsed to do a song-by-song review ( Note by The Lord: Or becoz I just did one, bitch? ) like I did on “Pariah” . I’ll just end up writing something I’ll regret 6 months from now (or whenever a disgruntled bandmember sees me in the pub). The bottom line is that “Harvest” is a good fucking album and a solid addition to Naglfar’s impressive back catalogue.

This is neither better nor worse then “Pariah”, thus I’m confident it deserves the same score.

9/10.

Information
Released: 2007
Label: Century Media
Website: www.naglfar.net
Band
Kristoffer Olivius: vocals
Andreas Nilsson: guitars
Marcus Norman : guitars
Morgan Lie: bass
Mattias Grahn: drums

Tracklist
01. Into The Black
02. Breathe Through Me
03. The Mirrors Of My Soul
04. Odium Generis Humani
05. The Darkest Road
06. Way Of The Rope
07. Plutonium Reveries
08. Feeding Moloch
09. Harvest

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