Swedish solo artist Dagny Susanne is the mastermind behind black metal project Nachtlieder, taking care of all vocal and instrumental responsibilities, except for drums on the 2010 promo EP and newest release ‘The Female of the Species’, which were provided by Martrum.
‘Female of the Species’ is Nachtlieder’s second full length release and it swells with an atmosphere of tense, unadulterated rage, propelled by the precise and frenzied drumming of Martrum, which accentuates the overall ferocity of the album. Instrumentally, ‘The Female of the Species’ is an attention-grabbing release, switching from breakneck speed riffs, intense percussion and aggressive vocal delivery to slower, almost doom-death sounding passages with a fluidity that is helped along by the distinct broodiness of the guitars.
Nachtlieder’s downfall is the one-dimensional vocals of Dagmy Susanne – they stay at the same pitch throughout every song, never faltering from a furious throaty bellow. It would be nice to hear more of her vocal range, however, as the music itself is fairly minimalistic, this particular vocal style was perhaps necessary in order to not overshadow the guitar, bass and drums.
This is certainly an interesting record and one that will no doubt sit well with fans of both traditional 90s-era and modern black metal alike. ‘The Female of the Species’ comfortably straddles the line without ever resorting to blatant rip offs of black metal classics or relying on the aid of synths and shoegaze elements to sound interesting. Dagmy simply lets her guitar and her voice do the work for her and yields impressive results.
(7/10 Angela Davey)
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