One of the drawbacks of being a reviewer and general metal music geek is time. There are always going to be bands who have been on your list but you never fought your way through to them. On the plus side reviewing sometimes cuts through this and firmly places them in your way and thankfully that is the case with Liverpool’s Ninkharsag.

I love bands who aren’t afraid to show their influences. I don’t mean uninspired carbon copies, but bands who know where their sound originated but intend to take it to their own place. I mean look at how far Old Corpse Road have travelled along their own path from their roots to their latest and definitely greatest. I kind of get the same unabashed vibe from Ninkharsag, now on their second album. They know and love their roots.

A slow, ominous, dark introduction ‘Night Wrath’ summons the spirits before the riffing starts. Tempestuous, imperious and melodic it nevertheless chills. It is immediately, to my ears, that Dissection vibe: The slight melancholy within the malevolent. The precise guitars that strike hard and true. This bursts free when the storm whips up the title track and death tinged, storm ridden black metal sweeps through. This is where Ninkharsag really begin to blossom like ink in water, dark sonic clouds unfurling. We get a burst of spoken word that briefly reels in a little Bal-Sagoth sound beneath an Emperor-eque fury of harsh winds before the control is wrestled back. We get insistent melody rising and falling through the surging riffs. We get twisted and feral vocals, occasional moments weirdly reminding me of Johan Hegg in rhythm but then turning to rip out the throat. On next track ‘Under The Dead Of Night’ we get a perfectly judged lead break putting that heavy metal blood into the sound but always succumbing to the ebb and flow of the stormwind riffs and savage drumming.

Oh it’s great. The sound is pretty great too; not clinical but clear enough for the quality riffs and hooks to dig in and for the lead breaks to transport. We also have songs. Actual memorable and distinguishable songs. We have arrangement, the little flourishes that make runs and breaks so stylish and the interplay of guitars.

Not going to do a track by track. It is another of those albums I want YOU to explore, but I’m going to give a special mention to the absolutely thunderous ‘Discipline Through Black Sorcery’. If any song herein exemplifies what Ninkharsag are about, and capable of, it is this absolutely hammering five and a half minutes. A long instrumental opening, fast and furious guitars surging into a roiling tempest of a song and when the refrain of ‘Rise! Rise! From the Abyss!’ is howled out with chaotic ferocity I felt as though the ground shattered beneath me and the sound just lifted me on the sheer power of the vocals. The riff dives and writhes, moments of half peace that serve to gather the will once more to push the sound higher. This will be a crowd crusher live, a monster of force of will. Magnificent.

But the best thing is it doesn’t stand alone. This sophomore album is like a Lament Configuration; writhing within just waiting to erupt when unlocked by the unwary are a tangle of songs with nasty, deep hooks and a dark, mighty power behind each one. There is pacing and tension in the moments of quiet, layering in the guitar interplay, intelligence in the arrangements. The atmosphere is relentless, bitter and cold but, gods, the melodies! The intent here is single minded and ruthless. The delivery nigh on flawless.

Yes fans of early Emperor and Dissection should adore this, but so should so many others. This is the sound of a band spreading great black wings and pursuing their own currents amidst the storm that created them.

Magnificent. Time to go put my money where my pen is.

(9/10 Gizmo)

https://www.facebook.com/Ninkharsagblackmetal

https://ninkharsag.bandcamp.com/album/the-dread-march-of-solemn-gods