I remember these Bergan based blacksters from 2017 debut album ‘Vi vet gud er en løgner’ and at the time of covering said there was not a huge amount known about them other than the fact guitarist Atyr had ties to Natas. I also mentioned they could probably give the likes of Tsjuder a run for their money which turned out fortuitous as founding members Atyr and vocalist Ormr have actually added blastbeast Anti-Christian to the band’s current roster. Despite being somewhat silent for a while the group undertook a trilogy of releases in 2019 centring on that fascinating year 1349 which made its mark on history as the year the black death ravaged Europe. EP Skuggen along with last year’s album Syggdom formed the first two chapters and here we have Nattverd completing this bubonic musical bibliography. With track titles all in Norwegian tongue mentioning the spread of the plague in translation such as ‘It Blooms On Everything that Sprouts,’ lime used for plague pit bodily disposal and the gathering of ravens to pick among the corpses you are aware this is going to be an authentic tale in both narrative and musical construct.
Ghastly cries and the whinnying of horses set the scene as Anti-Christian scabrously batters in and Ormr unleashes a blood-curdling shriek. This is fast and fiery stuff and one could be thinking that Nattverd are simply going to barbarously plough away with decapitating speed throughout this 43-minute journey. However, that’s not the case and they gradually temper things down a notch with some clear brooding background harmonics and some thick bass grooves. Having had a recap and playing all three albums back-to-back one can see the fluency here from second album Styggdom. At times it is vile and violent but at others it retains some of the black n’ roll motion of its predecessor. Indeed, a song like ‘Martyrer av kristus’ is as easy to rock out to as it is to fathom out what it is about. The martyrs of Christ may well think God can save them on the black curse spreading virulently through the land but they are as foolish and their faith is ill-conceived. At least we get a good headbanging fist slamming ride at their folly. The band don’t just stick to conventional tried and tested means either, there’s a touch of symphonic airs and graces about ‘Naar taaken fortaerer alt’ along with mournful piano etched keyboards. This heart-breaking tale can be viewed in Bergmanesque fashion via the video clip below.
With plenty of strong melody and powerful driving numbers its an album to get the listener up off bums and doing a twitchy St Vitus dance and is another one that if it were not ironically for the modern-day plague one that would go down particularly well live. The quartet sound incredibly tight and the band have come some way since that debut, the absolutely explosive drumming display on songs like ‘I moerket slumrer ravnen’ really pulverises and the vile rasps from the vocal department suit the grim mood perfectly. With the howling of wolves bringing ice cold temperatures and bodies piling up as the ground is too frozen to dig it all becomes increasingly tenser and survival looks doomed but as the last track contests, ‘Far Away In The Distance’ there maybe some hope. Despite this it won’t be in the way of a vaccine and once Vandring gets its hooks in it will prove just as hard to shift.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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