A brief bit of online research on Northmaan finds that this one-man project is from “the most Northernmost part of the UK”. A further bit of intrepid Googling point to this being possibly Skaw on the Shetlands.  Now, anyone expecting Northmaan’s debut to be filled with Gaelic rhythms and Highland tales then look elsewhere. (I suggest Peat and Diesel from the Hebrides).   

The man behind Northmaan has worked with likes of Gary Numan, Fear Factory and is also a member of Burton C Bell’s Ascension of the Watchers. The relationships with these three artists shine through this album with a dark light and slow strobe.  

Northmaan is a musical essay on self-destruction and despair which you can bop to. There is no getting away from comparison to Fear Factory with the pneumatic drum beats and combination of whispered and pseudo Gregorian vocals. The mix of industrial and Nu metal genres that permeated Obsolete are prolific here with hints of the masters Godflesh evident as well.  

The desert like sparseness of Gary Numan’s Savage album can be heard in the quieter passages in single Torture First and Northmaan is obviously interested in the juxtaposition of desolation and chaos.  

The overall sound and feel of the album is retro. Northmaan has taken the years 1997-2000 and blended them to create a gumbo that will represent the youth of many a metalhead and the mid 20’s of this one. The opener Self Destruct is like the missing link between Sepultura’s song Roots and Soulfly’s debut in its tone and phraseology. Elsewhere I can hear the distorted guitar lines of Dino Cazeres and the oft forgotten Meegs Rascon of Coal Chamber. Before you run screaming with cries of “False and poseur” this album does not hang on the pomp and stylings of that generation of Nu metal superstars but great riffs and hooks that made those acts so, so popular in pubs and clubs across the globe.  

What Northmaan lacks in originality it more than makes up for in sincerity, authenticity and song writing. It’s a good fun listen that distils the best bits from an emerging scene a quarter of a century ago. Doom bands and power metal bands have been doing it for years so I am not going to cock a snook at this gent for doing so with the late 90’s/Millennium sound.  

I am gonna slip this into a playlist along with Edgecrusher, Big Truck and Eye for An Eye and get my angry groove on.  

(7/10 Matt Mason)  

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