Coral reefs and a Volcano. Not the sort of words one would normally start off a review of a black metal album but Northorn are from Manado, North Sulawesi in Indonesia so their locale is not exactly the sort of place we normally find ourselves in, discussing this type of music. You don’t get many discs of its nature housed in a white case and adorned with blood red hues either, you can almost smell that coppery scent exuding out of this one and the razorblade lying next to snake, candle and skull tells a further story. Inside there are pictures of whom I assume to be Baphomet Van Northorn, lead singer and main instrumentalist of the group, live on stage having sliced himself up with a blade. Welcome to DSBM Indonesia style. Active since 2011, this lot have been busy on the release front with several albums, EP’s and demos to their name. Having said that, they were not particularly released in their home country and are no doubt on the rare side until a label in Ukraine liked what they heard and started picking up their material. Word is obviously spreading and this new EP comes to us via Austrian label Talheim Records.
I expected this to be rough around the edges but like the presentation this sounds pretty good as it chugs in with opener ‘Gomorrah’ and adds vocals that are throatily rendered along with some doomy melody. A solo peels away and one gets the feeling this lot have been practicing their craft for a while and gaining confidence as they progress. The bass gets some action too and boosts things with a well-defined backbone. Lyrically it is all about the suffering, walking dark paths and worshipping the cold. I guess judging by ‘Inner Temple’ they may consider Indonesia a poisoned paradise, something a bit difficult to comprehend sitting the other side of the world looking at photos of their area. No denying they convey their thoughts well here calling out to self-destruction over some powerful slow drum beats and slicing melody lines. Spoken word and moribund gloom is the stygian flavour of the title track. Chugging guitar is rudimentary but effective enough and the song gradually gets beneath the skin as do the obvious anti-humanist stance of the world hating muse behind it. Obviously, the ritual of pain is incredibly important too as ‘I Meditation (666)’ contests, the scabs and scars well worn, the gentle caress of guitar giving a Shining like, cold depressiveness about the piece while the vocals are painfully hollered over the top. Death is the final embrace with ‘R.I.P.’ concluding this 20 minutes of music at a more frantic and thrashy gallop. Despite the upbeat ending it is only to revel in “eternal emptiness” and one feels little in the way of hope for its perpetrator. It, kind of leaves me feeling a bit down and wanting to leave some words of encouragement about there being something out there worth carrying on for and battling with demons through the catharsis of the music itself. Ultimately ‘The Art Of Destruction’ is a tough listen but I am sure that is exactly what it set out to be.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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