What comes to
Canadian black metal, I do revere Pagan Hellfire, and Revenge doesn't
suck either even if not being entirely my cup of tea, but generally
speaking I can count truly good black metal bands from Canada with
one hand's fingers. Hence coming across an act like Nordwind is a
great pleasure: two Godless North related persons playing crude black
metal without any gimmicks whatsoever.
And while many
fail at the delivery of uncompromising black metal, i.e. actually
sounding good and interesting with the minimum equipment and means at
use, Nordwind seems to belong to the few bands who know how to hit the
right spots. Their debut album Wendehorn is downright harshness and
coldness from the north, further accomplished by the very deft
playing of instruments. There's not much bass in the soundscape;
instead, the raw guitars are are in the leading role, firing
ferocious riffs one after another. Just listen to the main riff
crushing on ”Gazing from the Void” - brilliance! ”Spear of
Mastery” shows how tasty lead melodies are done on top of a
rumbling rhythm section, and ”Death Asceticism” encapsulates the
essence of powerful palm-muting.
Admittedly,
Wendehorn might later on start suffering from a lack of longevity as
the songs build around rather simple (yet effective) ideas, but a
part of the album's charm, as a counter-effect, is indeed its
brevity: the album comes, kills, and leaves. Six tracks of merciless
action, and then it's done. Nordwind's performance here is
commendable, though of course rather predictable as there's nothing
majorly unique about them, but I really can't start philosophizing
about 'lacks of that and that' while listening to this piece of
grabbing fierceness. Wendehorn does what it's supposed to do, and
hence deserves a good rating.
4 / 5
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