Nhor has arrived just in time. Summer is on the wane and there are some long, dark nights ahead of us on this Sceptred Isle. There will be few better accompaniments to the bleak midwinter than this. Within The Darkness… is the latest from the excellent Prophecy stable which, along with sister label Lupus Lounge, is gathering together an impressive range of folk-inspired black metal bands including this one-man project from England’s West Midlands. I was a big fan of both Eïs’s Wetterkreuz last year and the superb split from Helrunar / Árstíðir Lífsins a couple of months ago. If that wasn’t enough, November brings the launch of Falkenbach’s much anticipated Åsa. Nhor fits in well, bringing a finely-crafted blend of atmospheric black metal and melancholy-drenched acoustic arrangements to the label with this fourth release and the first on Prophecy. It coincides with a limited ‘book format’ edition that includes all Nhor’s works – surprisingly also this one. If you didn’t realise you appreciated Nhor that much and you’ve got this far, then Within The Darkness… might just be enough to change your mind.
Nhor – the man and the band are one – specialises in the kind of black metal barrage that hits you with a wall of unrelenting noise, only to slowly peel away into something at first imperceptible and which then resonates round in your skull like some magic spell. In what could be considered a fairly predictable genre at times, he manages to maintain an hypnotic but unpredictable edge, while staying well within the confines of the folk black metal field. I mean, there’s normally a bit of work to be done on the part of the listener when folk or atmospheric black metal bands inflict those long acoustic sections and they are easily enough overlooked or absorbed into the experience if the actual music is good enough. But the problem with a lot of one-man bands is that their output way outstrips their ideas and ambient passages are often thrown in gratuitously and unnecessarily. Like an extra large pizza with free coke and garlic bread: it’s a bit cheesy, you feel bloated halfway through, and you’re already regretting the decision to buy it in the first place. But, like the best of them, Nhor makes an art out of the drifting piano rather than a time-consuming chore – using it as a tapestry on which to frame the clamour rather than just extending track times. On third track Patient Hunter, Patient Night, the crystal-cut production hangs uncertainly in the air before suddenly being swallowed whole by some extremely chilling blasts that then give way to some extremely catchy, rapturous hooks.
Within The Darkness… manages to leave you teetering on the edge of expectation playing off my starry-eyed anticipation between the sheer darkness and bleak and enthralling melody. So, just when you get the feeling that one acoustic section might be about to outstay its welcome, the whole thing hairpins into some huge rush of sound. Or, when the crescendo of one song appears to leave the album a spent force, something at first unseen suddenly grabs you and makes you take notice again. Like on fourth track The Fall Of Orion where the classic hypnotic dirge takes hold only to peel away in one direction then, later in the track, into another. The track’s pulsing decline ending in a shrill tremolo that hangs in your brain making you wonder if it had been lingering in the background of the track all the way along.
Sixth track Rohmet Etamu is a darker, more monotonous affair before the piano again drifts into what is more or less the album finale. The Temple of Growth and Glimmer Ascends is followed by a final acoustic arrangement to accompany us as we walk off into the freezing leafless forest – just in case you foolishly thought we were going out with a bang. You’ll need to be up for some powerfully restrained piano breaks but otherwise this is a must-have for fans of melody-infused, melancholic, icy, black metal. And I haven’t even mentioned those disconsolately forlorn voices that bleed in and out of the tracks. Nhor will make those mid-winter nights that little bit darker and that little bit colder.
(8/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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