Not frequenting London much I had never come across this lot before, so a fresh opinion and all that. Liking my orthodox black metal from the noisy filth of Bahimiron through Sargeist to Forteresse I also hoped their choice of moniker was a good pointer, too.
Well not really.
Technically this is a re-release; Nerthus’ Demise having previously been self released as a CD-R a couple of years ago before. It had taken that long for the usual sad label and luck hassles were overcome and Iron Age records took this on. This means that really I have no idea how representative this is of their present state, but what the hey it is what we have to review, and it is what it is. As ever, kudos to the band for persevering through the shit though.
There is an Anglo Saxon history and heritage thread here which the band say was a natural exploration for them despite their staunch Satanic leanings, so the battle sounds of the intro throw us directly into ‘Warcry’.
The first thing that fails to hit me is the sound. It has all the topography of the average pancake, I’m afraid. It strips the vocals of any depth, lays the drums down like dropped rocks and does nothing for a somewhat featureless guitar sound. Still, the restrictions of studio time and budgets are not unusual obstacles for bands so I try and force my way into the song instead. Sadly ‘Warcry’ just doesn’t work for me. There is no real sense of drama or atmosphere; even the spoken sections failing to kick-start it. It just presents itself in a mostly mid paced path that at nine minutes is an audacious and commendable attempt at the epic but that never really rises above forgettable. Nothing awful you understand, just a guitar sound that sounds uninspired and standard, predictable minor shifts in tempo and a time stretching well over its natural length.
‘Pagan Might’, the next track is shorter and less stretched but still is cursed with a standard, trilling guitar sound, just this time like Amon Amarth with the life smothered from it. Despite the attempts of the vocals to inject some passion it ends up following ‘Warcry’ into a generic landscape only briefly lifted by a nice melodic lead break. The wonderfully titled ‘Severing The Throats Of The Voiceless Christian Scum’ is a lot more on the death metal side of black but still mostly drifts sadly and I’m into the more thrashy opening of ‘The Passing Of The September Moon’ before I realise it. A couple of songs later they close out with the long title track which leaves me unfortunately unmoved. Somehow, whether it’s the production, the performance or the song I feel no sense of loss or longing as I do with a Wodensthrone for example. The passion I’m sure these guys have inside fails to rise up and ignite the song or indeed the album as a whole.
It’s all a bit dispiriting really. I mean these guys get out and gig and work hard and I want to get into this but having only the CD to go on all I have is an album that falls squarely into the place of generic. Nothing terrible beyond the inability of me to get anything other than a workmanlike performance from Nerthus’ Demise. On this album Necro Ritual have tried to look to the huge, rich history the land has but like such a tragically and inexplicably large number of similar UK black metal bands, although the perspiration is there, the inspiration has failed to seep through. There are no hooks to get you, no riffs that drill into my memory and the atmosphere is prevented from enveloping us by a flat sound. The band can play, the vocals are actually quite varied and pretty good but it all still leaves nothing distinctive to remember them by either sadly.
Something has failed to work here for me but, as I said at the top this set is a couple of years old so hopefully things are looking up now. This snapshot though fades far too quickly. Sorry.
(4/10 Gizmo)
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