Sarke - Gastwerso (2019)

Gastwerso capitalizes on the success of Viige Urh with a few minor tweaks, but I was really satisfied that they continued with this brighter, more kinetic-sounding production style, just as clean as most of the prior albums, but here the guitar riffs sound a little more sharp and cutting. Part of this is the emphasis on some heavier material, for instance the tremolo black metal riff explosion in the middle of awesome opener "Ghost War". There's also a little more mystique to this album, perhaps a more Eastern influence to the melodies in the synthesizers that make it all a bit more exotic and evil. I don't know that this one can match its predecessor blow for blow, but it's another excellent addition to Sarke's catalog.

Again, they've got an awesome combination of opening tracks to grab you, but where the album starts to get real interesting is "Mausoleum". They've used synths plenty through the discography, and always tastefully so, adding more than subtracting, but "Mausoleum" is the first case for me where they feel as if they're really attempting an arrangement. This one feels truly symphonic, the synths scintillating, the guitars and drums working in tandem to support it, and the little wailing melodies create such a stark contrast against NC's voice and the lyrics, which have this sad simplicity and finality to them befitting the title. What a cool track, and something new in the Sarke canon. This isn't entirely representative of the album, but they've got some other experiments here like the sultry acoustics and ambiance of "The Endless Wait" and the Goth-y/sympho step of "In the Flames", which admittedly is a little goofy with the placement of the verse lyrics and such, but in a good way.

Don't worry though, if you want more of the simpler black/thrash with the keys, there are plenty of those tunes here, like "Echoes from the Ancient Crucifix" or "Rebellious Bastard", two more easy highlights for me, and the latter even devolves into an almost Western vibe. I guess Gastwerso would overall win the award for the most 'prog' album in their catalogue to its day, the one most interested in expanded the band's portfolio to avoid the redundancy that might be created by the typical black & white cover images and overall minimalism. But that's not a bad thing, because it's largely fucking awesome; not every left turn here works equally, but overall the satisfaction level is quite high and it's another I often head back to.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (Blocking all the sight)

https://sarkeband.bandcamp.com/

Sarke - Viige Urh (2017)

If I had any reservations or mixed memories of the third or fourth albums, there could be no such confusion with Viige Urh, a record I fell in love with immediately, frontloading some of the catchiest material of the band's entire career. Straight from the opening title track, it brought me right back to what I enjoyed about the debut Vorunah, only performed here with a little more zest and energy. Simple, memorable black/thrash, obviously derived from that Hellhammer school of through, or Darkthrone, NC's main band, but given added breadth and atmosphere due to the tasteful use of synthesizers to make a more dramatic chorus and also help contrast against NC's gritty vocal style, a beauty to the beast.

"Viige Urh" and "Dagger Entombed" are probably the best opening one-two punch combo for me in their whole catalogue, the former for its vital thrashing pulse, and the latter for that amazing flow of grooves and dour-sounding synth tones that almost catapult you back to some Medieval era. But this record has so much more in store for you, like the charging "Age of Sail" with that sweet opening lead guitar, "Upir" with its lopsided, lumbering groove, or the slow-rolling atmospheric doom of "Punishment to Confessions". While there is variety here, I feel that Viige Urh is one of their most unified records in execution; the songs just sort of flow together the best, not that they don't on the older efforts but here they feel more purposely planned for maximum resonance with the listener. Yes, they're pulling in some light prog rock influences among the styles they already dabbled in, but everything else is straight from the Sarke playbook that you'd recognize from the first four.

Viige Urh absolutely stomps, with a more vibrant production than its predecessor and a selection of songs that never let up in quality through the entire playtime. Where, say I could point out a few on Aruagint that wouldn't make a career playlist, I'd probably have to include this entire album. This is the first I grab when introducing someone new to the band, and it has a high rate of success, taking what's so vital about the first two and improving upon that hybrid style. Nocturno's voice is the icing on the cake, but the music itself here is strong enough that I can occasionally put that to the sideline. Amazing stuff that holds up as strongly today as the first time I listened.

Verdict: Win [9.25/10]

https://sarkeband.bandcamp.com/

Sarke - Bogefod (2016)

When I was deciding to complete my reviews for the Sarke discography, a band I've long loved but never openly appreciated enough, I had a false memory that Bogefod was the worst of their albums, and thus it's the one I have the least experience listening to. I think I had it confused with one of the Khold albums or something, or maybe Araguint (which is also good), because it turns out total bullshit, the product of a mind cobwebbed with too much information. Bogefod is great, a record that sticks with its predecessors in style, but benefits from some fresh energy with the addition of the Kråbøl brothers Terje and Stian on the drums and guitar respectively. You might know them from other bands like Tulus, Khold, Gjendod and their namesake Kråbøl, all of whom you probably also enjoy (or would enjoy) if you like Sarke.

Bogefod isn't a far cry from the albums before it, no, but it's a little bit more vicious due to a mix that's a little more saturated, and this applies both to the more incendiary black/thrash material like "Taken" or the mood-setting, slower songs where the synthesizer plays a more dramatic, rainy role as in "Barrow of Torolv". There are great, soothing acoustic segues, a stab at some almost opera-like ethereal fare ("Dawnin") with folk singer Beate Amundsen, and a whole lotta great riffs slathered in Nocturno Culto's not so soothing bark, which to me is like having toast in the morning after listening to 35 years of his music. It balances the Hellhammer/Celtic Frost influences that have always informed this band's style with a few moments of more dissonant black metal, doom, thrash, folk, ambiance and while it's once again not quite the measure of the first two albums, it's very damn close.

In fact, this came out the same year as Arctic Thunder, my least favorite Darkthrone record (although not bad, per se), and I like this one much more. It's a bit more consistently catchy than Aruagint, has the slightly more acidic production and, when it wants to, sounds a little more 'dangerous'. It's things like this that are the reason I'm happy to go back through and cover discographies from bands I think deserve talking about, because occasionally you'll 'rediscover' something that you were either sleeping on, wrong about or just couldn't quite remember, and you'll be the richer for it. Bogefod is, like every Sarke album, worth a listen if not outright ownership, one of the black & roll royalty bands that should appeal if you like any other band I mentioned here in this review, mid-era Satyricon, or Slegest.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (He will not let death contain his madness)

https://sarkeband.bandcamp.com/

Sarke - Aruagint (2013)

The first two Sarke records gave me something that I never knew I needed but subconsciously probably always wanted: hearing Nocturno Culto's ghastly and gritty timbre in a context beyond Darkthrone. Now, Darkthrone is one of my favorite bands ever to exist in this plane of existence (there are others, and they hold up pretty well there too), and you could honestly be forgiven for hearing Aruagint or any of this project's other offerings and mistaking them for new works by that other band, who shifts styles around sometimes for consistent reinvention. I think Sarke has a much more accessible sound in general, a hybrid of black and doom and some simpler thrash metal with a super clean and almost minimalist production.

No, the atmosphere here doesn't come through the album's mix, as it does often with NC's mainstay. It's purely through the riffs, though they do add some synth or horn sounds. Sarke enables you to focus directly on the simpler, catchy guitar patterns and that voice, which is amazing at this slower pace. NC excels with some sustain to his growls, you can really feel them out and occasionally they get a little more gruesome, but if you're a fan of his from Darkthrone, then you're going to love records like this one just to have more. The lyrics are also really cool, with a simple but poignant poetry to them much like that other band, and written largely by Thomas 'Sarke' Berglie, the drummer for Khold and Tulus who is the heart and namesake of this project. His bass is quite memorable here, not for the lines so much but for the spongey tone you can hear buzzing alongside the bottom end, like a catfish feeding from the floor of your aquarium.

This is also one of two Sarke albums that Asgeir Mickelson performs on, and he makes it all sound so easy, with a steady, grooving rock style that's a bit simpler than what you've heard him pummel out on Borknagar or Spiral Architect. Everything here is cleanly written and executed, though there are couple super simple black & roll tracks like "Strange Pungent Odyssey" or "Jaunt of the Obsessed" which aren't among the catchiest they've put out. So this album doesn't quite achieve what Vorunah or Oldarhian did for me, but there are some heaters here like "Walls of Ru", "Salvation" (that bass!), the eerie yet warm "Skeleton Sand" and memorably, grooving "Icon Usurper" to compensate and keep this pretty essential if you enjoyed the first two, or Berglie's other bands that I mentioned above. Good riffs, mostly good songs, Nocturno Culto. You had me right there.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (Dragging shattered remains)

https://sarkeband.bandcamp.com/

Windir - Likferd (2003)

The fourth and final Windir record is the darkest. Not simply because I associate it with the untimely passing of its main protagonist Valfar in the year following its released (in a fucking blizzard of all things), but because it's got this more suffocating extremity about it. As I mentioned with 1184, rather than going more accessible with the winning formula of melodic clarity and folkish multi-instrumentation, Valfar and his shipmates moved off into a more aggressive direction, seeking to embrace the black metal fundamentals rather than shun them. Likferd goes even harder than the last album, and with the increasingly savage vocals and sheer velocity of the riffs and drumming.

That's not to say you don't get some variation, some brilliant moments of pause like the dark synthscape that punctuates "Resurrection of the Wild" or the bass-driven grooves of "Blodssvik" which sounds more like a Gothic rock song until those familiar melodies surge forward. But overall, Likferd is content to hammer away at your corporal body and then let the melodies and awesome male choir vocals carry you off into Valhalla. Despite the kinetic, melodic glaze found in tracks like "Martyrium" or "On the Mountain of Goats", they thrive off the strength of the riffing and sheer force. And there is riffing aplenty, with Valfar trying a whole array of new patterns that pull from thrash or melodic death metal but then plant them directly into the Viking furor. There are windows of proggy sounds and structures also placed throughout the 48 minute visceral structure of this experience, and one wonders if they had continued they might have pursued paths more akin to how Enslaved was already evolving at that very moment.

The mix still isn't my favorite, it's very steady but also kind of got a murk to it despite all the melodic strivings. That said, I think the drums sound a lot better than the last record, or at least the kicks and snares aren't distracting me throughout the experience as much, so I can better appreciate everything else that's happening. A worthwhile swansong for Windir. It's absolute rubbish that we lost such an obviously talented and visionary musician as Terje Bakken at such a young age, as many others have said before me. I can't imagine he would have disappointed us if we'd gotten 20+ more years of music from his atavist mind. I don't approach this one as often as Arntor or 1184, but it's rich enough with ideas both familiar and new that it's just a hair's breadth behind them in quality.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

Windir - 1184 (2001)

1184 seems like it's the first Windir album which is considered more of a 'band' effort. Valfar is still the chieftain of this clan, performing some of all the instruments (even some drum beats), but the rest of the roster has been fleshed out. Strangely, it doesn't seem like a step beyond the previous record Arntor, but a more mechanical experience churning out a similar product from the same ingredients. A large part of this is the programming, the kick drums here feel way too forceful and robotic and it's a tangible distraction from everything else, if not a deal breaker. I do like that Windir doubled down a bit on the black metal component, this is clearly trying to be more intense than the albums before it while still maintaining the amazing melodic scope Valfar created there.

And to that extent, 1184 delivers in spades. The instruments are much more level here in the mix, and it does feel more processed, so the melodies don't poke through like the glistening spikes of ice they once did. However, they are LEGION, and not a track throughout this experience lacks a rich bevy of riffs that will have you coming back to them. Nothing is skippable, but they're all delivered in this harder hitting, steadier experience which doesn't go for the dynamics as they did on Arntor. I will say, though, the heavier riffs are fucking rad on this, like "Dance of Mortal Lust" with its thrashing complexity, or "Destroy" which ups the hammers straight to your mullet. "Heidra" with its unforgettable intro melody, evil and twisting and treated with some of the best bass-line support in their catalogue. "The Spiritlord" has a bit of that simpler, mid-paced black metal groove that they don't often mete out, and I love the proggy bits that close "Black New Age", so there is a good variation between individual tracks, but most are singularly committed to their individual intensity.

In fact, the last six songs on this album totally crush the first two, they are all brilliant, and because the music is superior you can forgive the mechanistic drumming a little more. The vocals sound really great here, in this case I will say that 1184 is superior to either of the earlier albums. His rasp is more full-bodied and nasty. The keys and accordion are interwoven more directly into the music so it has more of an overall 'orchestrated' feel, you constantly pay attention to hear all the details as they bounce off one another. I don't like the production as much as Arntor, but apart from the drumming it definitely seers itself directly into your skull. I think on the strength of those last six tracks, this is probably the equal of Arntor, but if the drums had been less distracting and the production had felt more natural, it would rank among my favorite Norwegian black metal albums. It's up there, but not on the top shelf.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

Windir - Arntor (1999)

As soon as you hear the interchange between the accordion and the synths of "Byrjing" that herald Arntor, you know there's been a little sea change in the years since the Windir debut. As I mentioned on that review, it takes a bit of finesse to pull this stuff off without coming across as goofy self-parody, something that plagues a lot of folk metal oriented acts (even Finntroll, a band I happen to love). Valfar used his music to honor his ancestry, the heritage of his region, and took a lot of responsibility in doing so. The synths were actually pretty good on the debut, so I'm not surprised how well they're used throughout Arntor, but it's the rest of this production that has stepped everything up over its predecessor. I would be remiss to point out that this also largely a solo venture: he has numerous contributors for vocals, lead guitars, and the same drummer and clean vocalist (Steingrim and Steinarson) from the debut, but Valfar is in command.

Arntor is immediately a more developed, textured affair than the debut, with numerous improvements. The guitar melodies are still extremely excellent, some of the best ever from the Norwegian scene, and they have such a grasp of antiquity that the sound of them feels like you're in some epic poem or watching some documentary about Viking or Scandinavian culture. The bass lines are highly improved, with a good supporting groove that adds yet more character to the compositions. The vocals are still the same rasp, but they've been blended into the riffs so much better here that they sound excellent and never obnoxious. There are still clean vocals implemented, with some festive whoops and shouts, but it always feels timely and thematic to the whole. The male choir vocals on "Kong Hydnes haug" and elsewhere are superior to those of the debut, delivered with a more brazen confidence, and I also think the mix of the drums for Arntor is better, you can feel the kicks so much more, they're using some more warlike march rhythms and such and get a festive rock groove to them when the music moves at a more moderate pace.

There are a few of the dour clean vocal lines in tunes like "Kampen" which remind me more of an Otyg or early Vintersorg delivery, taken seriously but still a little dweeby along with that simple verse rhythm, so that's not my favorite stuff, but with the exception of that one track this is a godlike effort. Songs like "Saknet",  "Arntor, ein windir" and the epic Viking trance-inducing "Svartesmeden og Lundamyrstrollet" are among my favorite in their entire catalogue. I was never 'late' to the Windir party, they are a band I heard as soon as many other folks did, and initially liked, but in the last decade a lot of their albums have been growing on me with each new wintry season. Maybe that's tacky, and I'm an old fool, but this is when I really like to experience Valfar's music, and we've had a good coating of snow here in the New England area lately and it's just bringing out all the feels. Killer disc.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

Windir - Sóknardalr (1997)

Windir is most often celebrated for their later albums, but I have to say. after exploring back through their discography this winter, that they had a fairly developed, advanced sound going back to their Sóknardalr debut in 1997. There are still a few parts of the performance and production that seem amateurish, to be sure, but the sense of melody was already advanced, folk-like rhythms aplenty, and the use of cleaner vocals to offset the genre rasping were also a good choice, although I think they lack a little of the confidence they would develop. Atmospherically, though, if you just want to immerse yourself in some formative Viking black metal through your speakers of headphones, this debut is a trip if you manage your expectations. Not as blistering or savage as the early Enslaved stuff, but also not as goofy as something like Otyg.

You're essentially getting that full Windir package, just not as refined as 1184. They have the ability to use those predictable but pretty sorts of guitar melodies without sounding foolish, unlike a lot of the emergent 'folk metal' bands which sound more like they're ready to take stage at a Renaissance Faire and make jokes of what was crafted from some more serious cultural influences. A lot of this stuff here was also drafted up from the band's demos, which I remember making a stir in the underground during that mid-90s era. And let's not forget, the Norwegians were pretty young when they started off, I know at least Valfar was in his teens when this came out, and to that end, it's impressive, especially as he's performing everything but the drums and some clean vocals! The first song "Sognariket sine krigarer" is a little rough, but it does at least capture the spread of aesthetics that the band would be using throughout its existence. After that, though, some of the songs are a lot better, more matured and developed, like "Det som ver Haukareid" with its slower flow and great interplay of riffs and organs, backing vocals and rasps that feel a little more adherent to the music where they started off the album sticking out a little like a sore thumb.

And these are the same snarly, raspy vocals that appear on all the other albums, but there they get a better mix that embeds them into the instruments where a few points here they just go overboard. Not a deal breaker, of course, when you've got catchy tunes like "Mørket sin fyrste" with its anthemic charge, or "I ei krystallnatt", or "Røvhaugane" which are other favorites on this disc. The melodic sensibility here is just about as good as it was with Finland's Amorphis on their brilliant mid-90s run, even though it's arriving through a different sub-genre. Windir was far more focused on this aspect than others in their scene, who would flirt with the melodies and harmonies but engage in a lot more dissonant chords or post-Hellhammer grooves. For Valfar, this was the modus operandi, not just the end goal. There are catchier earworm guitar licks in some of the verses than some of his peers could muster at the climaxes of all their efforts. So all in all, this was a pretty good debut. The mix is a bit more raw than the later albums which are a lot more layered, but it still sounds crisp and clear to me. This was also the most interesting record to revisit since it hasn't stayed in my rotation through the decades.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

Aura Noir - Aura Noire (2018)

The eponymous Aura Noire follows a fairly similar trajectory to its predecessor Out to Die, a faster and uglier callback to their early records that maintains the stronger and more memorable composition of the 2000s material. But there's a tonal shift here which brings out a little more of that old1 1984-87 Voivod influence I've been mentioning over a couple of their releases. This is largely achieved through the mix: the bass has a louder and chunkier voice to it, perhaps more important than on any of the prior albums, the guitars are produced with a boxed-in tone that feels slightly off-putting and alien without obfuscating them from the listener, and the nihilistic vocal barks are spit out very clearly but with some resonance and a bit of reverb that helps engrave them into the more affected sounds of the instruments.

This is consistent through the whole record, which again clocks in about 32 minutes to never wear out its welcome, and while some might prefer the mix of The Merciless or Out to Die, I kind of enjoy the quirk this decision gives to the record, it becomes more distinct among their catalog. Song-wise, this is another of my favorites, with coherent ideas translated into earworm riffage, absolutely evocative and killer lyrics (long a trademark of this band), and a genuine sense of creepiness and bleakness that is created through the note progressions and vocals. I remember Deep Tracts of Hell had a similar effect on me, but while this one isn't as abrasive as that I feel it's somehow more atmospheric. All of the songs are bangers, but I'd specifically point out "Hells Lost Chambers" with its steady trot and eerie atmospheric ending with the cleaner guitars and scarce bass, or "The Obscuration" where they spit forth a tremolo-picked intro more akin to some psychologically piercing black/death metal, or "Mordant Wind" which applies a little more of that Voivod structure to their post-Hellhammer grooves that became so prominent on Hades Rise.

But this is another album I almost always plow straight through, with other amazingly direct thrash numbers like the catchy "Shades Ablaze" and the swaying "Grave Dweller". Every one of the Nocturno Culto-adjacent vocal lines is riveting, pissed off and effective, like a tether to my corroding soul. And there's a special 'surprise' waiting at the end, a brief two-minute instrumental with a slightly brighter, yet still evil disposition due to the siren-like higher-pitched guitars they pitch over the rhythm riff. This is somewhat new for Aura Noir and foreshadows some potential ideas they might one day explore for the future, but it's also brief and might have been some unfinished track that they just slapped on there. Nevertheless, this s/t quickly became one of my favorite records they've done besides Hades Rise, and it definitely puts me in this weird blackened thrash trance when I'm listening. Even the weird, vague, minimalistic artwork by Kristian Valbo (drummer of bands like Obliteration) captures the imagination quite well. The trio split up for a spell some years after this disc released, but pretty quickly reformed, so I hope it's not too long to hear what they've been up to next.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

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Aura Noir - Out to Die (2012)

Out to Die isn't exactly a step 'backward' from the more tightened and refined sound of the last two albums, but it takes that songwriting and splashed in a measure of savagery from Deep Tracts of Hell. Right out of the starting gate, if there were any sort of divide between fans of this or that era, a track like "Trenches" would seem to unify them. Fast, vicious, perhaps not as dissonant as some of the later 90s material, but definitely matching the intensity, with a much stronger studio sound to support it. And it's no fluke, because the next few tunes also carry this violent momentum, like the material from Hades Rise has been given an injection of hell serum. It's not entirely a barrage, as you'll get offerings like "The Grin from the Gallows" or "Priest's Hellish Fiend" which channel more of that Sarke/Hellhammer vibe, but more often than not this thing blazes along without abandon.

Fortunately, that speed conceals loads of catchy, thrashing rhythm guitars nearly as catchy as the prior album, and this is probably the first album Aura Noir record I'd point to for fans of the last two decades of blackened speed and thrash which has become quite a prevailing trend (and I am there for it). Everything is precise, angry, and gives just a hint that it could lose control without doing so. The feet and fingers are getting a workout, riff after riff formed into a lethal execution like "Abbadon" or "Withheld" which make them sound like a much younger trio showing their chops. Another record like Hades Rise where the bass has a more formidable presence, although I do think the speed of the material relegates it more to a low end back seat. The raving TG Warrior/Culto barks are applied as rapidly as ever, with a lot more syllables spitting than their inspiration, and you get a lot of these raucous, sustained roars and snarls bounces back and forth between Appolyon and Aggressor, this really feels as if it might have the most diverse delivery.

All the songs are listenable, there might be a few minutes in which I find myself zoning out, but at 32 minutes I feel like it nails the same consistency they hit with The Merciless. I still hear all these little riff nods to earlier material from bands like Voivod and Sepultura, which might be in my imagination, but it ends up keeping the band in its own space, this doesn't sound like your usual derivative worship of Bathory and Venom, and honestly they never have, it's more as if you took the more aggressive side of earlier Celtic Frost and then turned it into a Death Race, where each lap they gradually apply another influence from the Teutonic or South American thrash, but it never becomes monotonous, as they will insert some more atmospheric or mid-paced passage to keep seizing the listener's attention. Great album, one or their better for sure.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

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Aura Noir - Hades Rise (2008)

I'm a huge fan of bands like Sarke, Slegest and Darkthrone, and also enjoy the black & roll era of Satyricon or the newer Tulus records which also employ a very stripped-down aesthetic. There's just this very centered vibe with the clear mixes, honing each riff and vocal line to be sinister and effective without the smokescreen of ceaseless extremity and rawness. Those are both formidable devices in their own right, mind you, but I appreciate that this sort of sub-scene has developed parallel to the rest of Norse black metal's evolution. I bring it up because I feel Aura Noir also belongs in that realm, albeit approaching it more from the thrash embedded in their past works. Hades Rise might be the foremost example of this catchy simplification through their canon, and it also happens to be one of my favorite records they've released.

Right from the start, you're getting these amazing, memorable grooves and hooks which feel like the prodigy of that Hellhammer influence I've mentioned elsewhere, tempered with a little pure dirty heavy metal ("Hades Rise") or some Slayer-like licks (in the amazing "Gaping Grave Awaits"). All of the chords feel so carefully chosen and timeless, and there's little fat to be had, where a few of the past records would spit out savage hit-or-miss vitriolic progressions. The vocals have a dry hostility to them, as they're not too dressed up in effects, but at the same time you can capture all the emotion of the throats torn to each syllable, and it works just as well as Nocturno Culto's great performance on the Sarke albums. The bass is a lot more prominent and the guitar tone has an organic charm to it, delivering pure riffage rather than studio wizardry or technical wanking. The drums have a strong shuffle about them and aren't as acidic or splashy sounding as they once were. Clearly this is still thrash metal, there are plenty of classic licks of that vein paraphrased throughout, with even a little early dissonant Voivod influence ("Schitzoid Paranoid"), but you can also hear the punch-drunkenness, rock & roll bravado and the lingering darkness of the black metal throughout, or even a little death metal in the verses to "Iron Night/Torment Storm".

This is also extremely consistent, perhaps the Aura Noir record that I'm most willing to listen straight through. None of the tunes overstay their welcome, the lyrics are evocative and awesome, and there's enough variation within that black/thrash/rock aesthetic where it's recognizably coherent but never too repetitive...the more brash "South American Death", for example, with its looser leads and wall-like barrage of riffs is quite different than "Gaping Grave Awaits". It's a fantastic effort that has only grown with me through time, I remember first hearing both this and The Merciless and being hypnotized by them far more than the earlier efforts that my friends and bandmates had championed upon me. Hades Rise is not something they would quite repeat with the follow-ups, however it does inform their sound enough they retain a lot of its sticky riffing and crank up the intensity. Love this disc.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

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Aura Noir - Increased Damnation (2000)

Increased Damnation is an interesting fan package which covers a few historical components for Aura Noir, studio and live material for the completionist. That said, this is not a compilation you are turning to for consistently, the contents are all over the place, but, along with the first two records and the live record they'd put out years later, dating back to 1996, this sort of 'completes' the first phase of their career. The entirety of the Dreams like Deserts EP is present, giving that a needed reprint for the time, and there are a selection of live tunes from another of their 'Elm Street' gigs, though I think these are later recordings than on the live album and there is a track difference since Deep Tracts of Hell was available, with "Swarm of Vultures" represented in a pretty raw and blistering form.

The Fenriz-fronted "Mirage" starts things off, transplanted from the EP, but featuring his vocals, and this is a much cleaner-produced version that fits more with forthcoming album The Merciless than the original EP. There are also some demo tracks from Deep Tracts of Hell, and they sound pretty sweet, I'd hazard that I found these a bit more impactful than what ended up on the actual album, just some writhing and nasty Teutonic-flavored thrash with ravenous vocals that hover just below the attack of the guitars. As the closer of the compilation, they've even got the most primitive version of "Tower of Limbs and Fevers" with just Aggressor performing, and his vocals are wild and hilarious almost like some sort of drunk narrator...some of their goofiness actually reminds me of lines that Fenriz has included on some of the 2000s Darkthrone output. Ridiculous but also charming, and this version of the tune has a weirdness in general to it that almost sounds like it's part Ved Buens Ende if that were thrash-injected.

The lack of rare or unreleased materials here limits its viability to me as a product, sure there are specific mixes of tracks you haven't experienced, but several are redundant just to this compilation. Granted, there was not a lot of Aura Noir material out there by this period, and if you hadn't had access to the EP then this might have been worth it for that fact alone, but this is not something I would ever have even broken out for a listen again if I wasn't writing through their discography. That's not to say it sucks at all, some of the alternate mixes are quite good or perhaps even preferable, but unless you're hell bent on grabbing everything the band has ever released, this is easily passed over for any of their full-length studio material.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

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Aura Noir - Live Nightmare on Elm Street (2006)

Live Nightmare on Elm Street is a little hard to come by, the only Aura Noir live album that I've heard, but it's also quite a treat for fans of their first few releases, recorded in 1996 on their home turf, and features a track list that incorporates just about all of Dreams Like Deserts and Black Thrash Attack. Despite releasing a decade after that period, it also SOUNDS like it represents that, because it's raw and hissy, something that was a characteristic of their earlier studio mixes, but thankfully not as dry as Black Thrash Attack. There's a sinister depth that the live setting brings out in the material, and while it partly sounds like its resonating off the walls of some rusted metal factory, it has a charm to it which is worthy enough of the studio counterparts that spawned it.

They were playing as the three-piece with Rune, and just smashing through all this material with some seasoned hands, feet and snarls. Audience interference/sound is kept to a minimum, and through it does feel rough around the edges, the audio is ultimately listenable and really conveys the hellish fervor of the riffing. Ironically, I noticed the bass guitar a lot more here than the first 3-4 studio efforts, and I kind of like how it prods against the rhythm guitar riffing better, though you lose some of the strength of the latter without numerous members tracking it in the studio. Heck, in "The Rape" it sounds incredible pounding out that ominous intro before the blast. The drums crash loudly, and the cymbals can get a bit too irritating, a symptom of many live captures, but overall I don't have many complaints about the mix levels. When the band gets a little more focused, on tracks like "The One Who Smite" which has a moderate pace, it can get pretty powerful; but then again, as they carve out barnburners like "Mirage" or "Conqueror" it also sounds pretty awesome.

I might even go so far as to say I enjoy the experience here more than their 1995-96 studio output, just in its presentation it manifests the hellion within a little more. Not that I go out of my way to collect live recordings, but I wish this one were a little more broadly available, as I had to listen through it digitally. Someone did re-issue it on cassette a few years ago, and I think this mix is perfect for that format, and fanatics for that format would probably be the ones to most appreciate this to begin with, but even if you can't track a copy down, purists for that earliest era of Aura Noir's career would probably enjoy this one a whole lot.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

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Aura Noir - The Merciless (2004)

The Merciless was definitely the juncture where my attention to Aura Noir started to grow, from a mere appreciation to genuine interest. The sound has been tidied up to an extent, with a cleaner mix, and while I can understand how this would prove a turn-off from some listeners, there was just something captivating about the vibe. Songwriting would definitely lean further into the Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Darkthrone sphere, even going so far as to make a reference in the opener's title, with Fenriz providing some guest vox! You can hear those primeval Swiss grooves in tracks like "Condor" and the awesome "Black Deluge Nigh", while the vocals continue to wield a heavy Tom G. Warrior intonation throughout; actually it's probably closer to Nocturno Culto's interpretation of that style, which I'm a huge fan of to begin with.

Note that they were doing this right before Darkthrone's own transformation towards exploring more speed, heavy metal and punk influences, but this doesn't quite come across like The Cult is Alive or Dark Thrones and Black Flags. It's somewhat a more streamlined version of the two albums before it, on cuts like "Funeral Thrash" or "Merciless", which flail about with an aggressive, thrashing abandon, but lack the sewer-like production aesthetics of Deep Tracts of Hell. There's nothing necessarily 'weaker' to the sound, no softening, it just feels much cleaner and like you're hearing a solid, organic performance in a rehearsal recording rather than the skin-peeling filth. The material does tend towards slower or middle pacing, but not so much as some of the later works. Riffs are nothing novel, but definitely drop some of the old Sodom and Kreator inspiration for more of that Hellhammer and perhaps some archaic Slayer if they were moving around half speed. Blasphemer/Rune Eriksen has returned for some guitars, having skipped the second album, and I think in this department the band does feel a bit stronger and more consistent, although there's nothing tremendously technical or nuanced here, they keep it pretty straightforward.

The bass still doesn't play a major role, usually buried beneath the rhythm guitars, but I do feel as if I can notice it slightly more, while the drums sound great as they shuffle through their grooves and the moderate blast beats they'll mete out to accompany one of the nastier thrash licks. I also really appreciate the continued commitment to having quality lyrics, as with the previous albums; in this way too they resemble the evolution of Darkthrone, albeit with slightly less of a tendency towards the tongue-in-cheek obscuring the deeper meaning...yes, a tune like "Funeral Thrash" is pretty much straight up silly self-flagellation of its genre, but then "Black Deluge Night" and "Black Metal Jaw" and others have a lot of great imagery in there. The Merciless isn't quite 'sea change' level for Aura Noir, but it definitely honed in and expressed the band's love of primitive thrash and black metal in a way that hooked me more than the first few attempts, which were good, but when I'm preparing my playlists of the band's material this is where I start to draw more selections.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

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Aura Noir - Deep Tracts of Hell (1998)

Black Thrash Attack might have taken its foot of the brakes, but the full length Aura Noir sophomore Deep Tracts of Hell nearly crashes off the speedway proper and levels half the neighborhoods surrounding the tracks. In fact, I think this record goes a little too far into a more purist black metal direction, not unlike some of what the band's Scandinavian peers like Marduk or Dark Funeral were all about during the same time frame. That's not to say it's just endless, soulless blasting, but the hints of thrash here are a little more scarce, especially in the first two tracks which crash through your ear canals like a corpse painted locomotive that has come flying off the rails. They do steady things out in later tunes like "Swarm of Vultures", while others like "Blood Unity" sound like alternate mixes to tracks from the debut album, but this is pretty much the peak of extremity this band has ever achieved.

Like the more colorful cover tones, the mix here has a little more depth for me than Black Thrash Attack. That's not to say it's perfect, you can still expect plenty of grime to it, but it doesn't feel so neutered and dry as it did on that album. They experiment a little more with lead sounds (like the warped and wavy dissonance in "Blood Unity"), and once again you get some Hellhammer/Celtic Frost/Nocturno Culto vibes, although this comes through primarily in some of the barked vocal lines, or the tune "Purification of Hell" which is a total foreshadow of what would be coming after, though this particular track has a weird hard rock party atmosphere to it, especially in the bridge and lead. But if I'm being honest, that's one of my favorites here, the more intense and fast material, while not badly executed at all, just sort of passes in and out my ears like so much barbed wire floss. There's a little bit of a 'sewer' quality to the record, imagine a black metal approach to Prong's Force Fed, and I find that the more weird and atmospheric it gets ("The Spiral Scar"), the more engaging, but there's not quite enough of that to keep it consistently compelling.

It's corrosive, filthy and furious, and the lyrics rule, but for every lick or vocal line that perks my attention, there are several more that evade it. They were back to a two piece here, and certainly Deep Tracts of Hell has more of an originality to it than the records preceding it. The sharing of the various instrumental duties by Aggressor and Apollyon is pretty unique, certainly a more even distribution than, say, Darkthrone, but it doesn't ultimately shift me in one direction or the other. This was also a sort of 'cusp' for the band, headed into a divisive territory where they would partly change their sound to something more organic and directly worshipful of Tom G. Warrior's bands, so I can see why some people greatly prefer this one (or Black Thrash Attack). For whatever reason, even though these discs were my first exposure to their music, I just happen to favor where they were headed to where they came from, unique or not. But none of that detracts from what a daunting effort this is...if you favor a more dissonant black metal edge cross-bred with the hyper death/thrash or something like Altars of Madness, and some Bathory or Hellhammer for good measure, this remains a pretty intense listen.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

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Aura Noir - Black Thrash Attack (1996)

Where the EP felt like a bit of German thrash worship, Black Thrash Attack feels like a more direct hybrid of its two genres, a faster and more intense attack than its predecessor, but still bursting into those frilly Destruction-like riffing patterns to remain recognizable. This record is a complete assault on the senses, with loads of blasting and much heavier riffs, almost as if the Norwegians' core sound is evolving much like their German influences did through the later 80s and beyond. The band had added Blasphemer here on guitars, and that might explain why it has a denser sound to it, but not necessarily through the production, which is nearly as raw as the EP, and rather dry on my ears, which for me does detract some points away from the experience.

That's not to say I dislike it, because the band's passion and songwriting manage to bleed through the mix. The rhythm guitars are more meaty and varied, in any given track like "Caged Wrath" or "The Pest" there is just a lot more going on, it doesn't feel like it couldn't been scratched out in an afternoon like the EP. They are definitely building a broader portfolio of riffs here, while still keeping some of their elements like the tinny clash of the drumming. Speaking of which, I think both of the core members perform on a few songs and they've improved since the debut, some of the more intense batteries wouldn't have felt out of place on the earlier Marduk offerings. The bass is kind of a non-starter here, the dry and direct production highly favors everything else out so you can only really hear it curving out a little like the low-end thrum of some rhythm chords. Like the EP, there are few riffs or songs overall that really stand out to me over time, but in the moment they can certainly prove exciting ("Eternally Your Shadow" is a favorite, or the title track), and this is also the point where that heavy Hellhammer and Celtic Frost influence turns up ("The One Who Smite"), which would have a huge impact on their later works as the band partly shifted its focus.

The lyrics here are quite a bit better penned than Dreams, although I still get the impression that lots of the song titles and general attitude are paraphrased from Sodom and Destruction. Which, for 1996, wasn't all that dated a concept, but still left the band a little shy of becoming its own distinct identity. Regardless of that, I know a good handful of people that consider this Aura Noir's finest hour. I am not one of them, as the production does little for me and I just feel like this formative 'half' of the band's career has been bested by so many others (Nekromantheon, Deathhammer, and Antichrist would be just a few examples), but Black Thrash Attack was unquestionably a stride forward from the previous release and shows a lot more effort, structure and ambition. Again, not the first record I'm pulling off the shelf, but a damn solid example of how this earlier style and the one it partly inspired can fuse together into something violent and fresh.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

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Aura Noir - Dreams Like Deserts EP (1995)

Dreams Like Deserts came along at a critical point when the whole blackened thrash/speed amalgam was a bit of a novelty; by no means was this some reimagining of the formula, but other than the obvious forebears like Bathory, Venom, Slayer and Possessed, or the earliest works of the German trio of Sodom, Kreator and Destruction, this was not the most popular route for most lingering thrash acts in the 90s to follow. The Scandinavian scene, however, did not get that memo, and so you had acts like Swordmaster, Gehenna, Bewitched, Aura Noir, and the evolving Impaled Nazarene around to spearhead this sort of retro- evolutionary backwashed vitriol, themselves sort of split between the influences of black, death, thrash or speed in differing proportions, but all offering this sort of 'slick', leather-harnessed back alley to the more intense, extremity that was taking over the pure black and death metal genres at the time.

This early Aura Noir recording was among the earlier works of Aggressor and Apollyon, two musicians who would go on to a lot of projects, including Aggressor's similar Infernö which would take off at around the same time in a more decidedly speed/thrash configuration with more of a punk foundation. And here you've got what sounds to me like pretty basic larval Teutonic thrash with the sinister vocals, for fans of In the Sign of Evil and Endless Pain, with some perhaps more pronounced black metal rasps that would keep them current with their Norse and Swedish peers of the time. But the riff structures here seem like they leap forth from the inspiration of "Riot of Violence' or "Total Desaster", not so much of the driven, supremely sinister Slayer in terms of riffing strength or diabolic harmonies, but rough and tumble with frilly licks and tin-can crashing drums that give it a real street vibe, knuckle-dusting the listener into some heaps of offal and refuse in some dimly lit pile of garbage bags.

To that extent, it's got a cool primacy to it that would set up the framework for their first two full lengths. The hellish energy is legit, although I don't think I ever found the riffs themselves to be as resilient or memorable as those they'd write later on. In fact, in today's saturated scene of blackened speedsters, Dreams Like Deserts would seem rather average, but it was in fact well ahead of the trend that would follow, and the few atmospheric moments it has like the intro to "The Rape" with its bass grooves reminiscent of Voivod, or the thundering bridge of "Forlorn Blessings to the Dreamking" do help to distinguish it slightly from being too generic. A fiery start, though this is admittedly the Aura Noir recording I return to the least whenever I'm seeking my fix, with some of its influences a little too much on its razored-up sleeves, like having a song titled "Angel Ripper".

Verdict: Win [7/10]

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Arcturus - Arcturian (2015)

Arriving a decade after Sideshow Symphonies, I recall Arcturian being a relief for me, as I felt I might never hear from this Norse supergroup again, its members so involved with other projects that saw a more direct level of success. When this finally showed up, I was instantly smitten, as it sounded like the band hadn't skipped one scatterbrained beat, with material just as wild, varied and weird as La masquerade infernale or its 2005 predecessor, only catchier like the records I greatly preferred throughout their career (The Sham Mirrors). It's another fusion of black metal, classical influences, and experimentation, but matured and really well balanced to appeal to fans of all their catalogue, with little nods here or there to particular tracks or records from the past, but still feeling forward, grasping at new tricks as early as the tubahorn that blares through the opener "The Arcturian Sign".

And though that's probably my least favorite tune on the album, it's still an intense exhibition of the members' individual chops, like Hellhammer's percussive flexing and ICS Vortex' yowling, atop the sinister symphonic swells that tether it to the genre that birthed it. The songcraft dramatically improves with the lush, swirling "Crashland" and its beautiful strings, or "Warp" which sends the band out across the universe with its infusion of beats, ambiance, and weird sci-fi keyboard sounds, something that was surely hinted at through lyrics and tunes in the past, but here becomes the most apparent. "The Journey" goes even more electronica with those continued seasonings of world music, multi-instrumentation and odd but soothing whispers and choirs that stretch across the atmosphere like a membrane. There are even tunes here like "Archer" or "Pale" that wouldn't have seemed out of place on the debut album, so it's quite cool how this feels like an ouroboros that hears the band swallowing its own tail once venturing past its own brain area.

The instrumentation is supreme, from the little blitzes of flagellant leads to the stark orchestration and aforementioned drumming that is at times as fast and hard-hitting as anything else HH has performed. The production is airy but clear, capturing both the depths of space and the Renaissance quirkiness the group seems to shift between. There's still a little bit of the goofiness you'd expect, particularly in Vortex's vocals and the carnival-like structure of the closer "Bane", but it never pushes it too far so that it takes over the more serious side, it's more cynical than silly. This was just an awesome comeback, the first year or so I might have considered it their best work, but I think The Sham Mirrors still holds that honor, with this a worthy second. Sadly, the band has taken another ten year hiatus from the studio by this time, but they've stuck around for some great live performances, and there are buzzings of new material to come. If that's going to be the cycle, where I get new Arcturus every decade, then I suppose I'll take it.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10]

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Arcturus - Shipwrecked in Oslo (2014)

Arcturus was one of the bands that put on a pretty sweet live-set stream during the COVID 2020 period, something I really appreciated in those times as an example of bands thinking of their fans and trying to keep that interchange and communication together in the face of the uncertain. I'd not gotten to see them in concert before (still haven't), so it was at that point I decided to check out their earlier live album, at least the audio component taken from the Season of Mist DVD back in 2006. It turns out that Shipwrecked in Oslo is quite a substantial tour through the band's catalogue with around 80-90 minutes of material captured on a single CD (or the two-LP variant). This was the Sideshow Symphonies lineup for the band, with ICS Vortex instead of Rygg, and it holds pretty too with the overall atmosphere and tone on that studio record.

But yeah, they bust out a lot of material off most of their records to that point, with only Aspera Hiems Symfonia underrepresented via "Raudt og svart" at the tail end of the track list. It's great to hear favorites like "Ad Absurdum", "Nightmare Heaven" and "Painting My Horror" represented, and all of them sound as bright and detailed as they do in their studio incarnations. Sometimes frightfully so, played so cleanly that it occasionally feels like someone might be blasting the studio album over the loudspeaker without the vocal track and then having Simen go wild over it. His take on most of the earlier tracks is pretty close to his predecessor, but his voice definitely waves a lot here, as he's getting more emotional or aggressive on a lot of the lines. It does sound somewhat corny in spots, but then again, so did Garm on a lot of the studio originals, and I don't think the vocals ever become a detraction, he's just having a lot of fun with a band that has such a wild mesh of styles to begin with. Something else unique here are the solos, Steinar doing a sweeping classical piano piece, Tore an atmospheric guitar bit that sounds like Eric Johnson, and Knut deciding to go for a more brooding ambient interlude, which might seem pretty bland and minimalist next to Tore's, but I actually appreciate they tried to make these all sound so different.

Of course, these are just distractions against what everyone really came to hear, the album originals, which are all delivered with the grandeur and weird cosmic circus pomp that you'd expect. The electronics and symphonics both blend in seamlessly with the more acoustic impact of the drums and guitars, Simen sitting just perfectly in the mix, loud and distinct but even at his most spontaneous he's never drowning out the rest. I'd have probably preferred 1-2 more early tunes than some of the stuff off Sideshow Symphonies, but it's still a strong enough, professional set that makes me want to check them out if they're ever passing through New England in the future. Not the most exciting or explosive live you'll encounter, but a strong representation.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

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Arcturus - Sideshow Symphonies (2005)

Sideshow Symphonies is one of those rare records that, for whatever reason, I have occasionally forgotten about. Part of that might be that I wasn't hooked with it nearly as much as its predecessor, or maybe there was just an influx of new metal I loved around that 2005-2006 era; In fact, I think it's probably a combination of these factors. I'd liken it to ANOTHER 2005 record, Sigh's Gallows Gallery, which is also playing as an avant-garde/progressive style derived from the black metal niche; but where that one still hasn't ever connected with me, the Arcturus has slowly become a more appreciated part of their canon, in combining a lot of elements of prior albums Aspera Hiems Symfonia, La Masquerade Infernale and The Sham Mirrors into a more familiar, if less adventurous work, and while it doesn't stand out to me as much as its neighbors, it is certainly going to scratch the itch when you're pining for their particular sound.

The album's just as detailed and intricate as the two before it, with a lot of variety pasted atop a slick prog metal foundation. Scathing licks and savage drumming support sweltering atmospheres, sizzling synth lines that are often shredding more than any of the guitars. A major change here is that Simen/ICS Vortex has taken over the lead vocal duty from Jester/Garm, and he expands his forebear's intonations out with that memorable, yodeling pitch. If you've enjoyed any of his records with Borknagar than I think this is a pretty solid parallel, only its nature-worship is devoted more to the cosmic carnival this band manifests more so than the fjords and forests. Though they're constantly glazed by the symphonic keyes of Steinar Sverd, I feel as if there's a stronger metallic presence through the guitars than some of the other albums, or at least on par with any of them. There's still an air of mystique captured through the riffing patterns, but at the same time I feel like this is the 'safest' of their albums, in that it doesn't really step forward as much as any of those that were written before it. Performance-wise, though, Sideshow Symphonies proves just as technical and practiced as nearly anything else its members have ever releases in their myriad projects.

The production here is also one degree above The Sham Mirrors or La Masquerade Infernale, with all of those aforementioned intricacies captured at consistent levels. The thin pinch of the guitars manages to balance off well against the airy soundscapes swaddling the keyboards, and everything is crystal clear, working wonders for the natural contrast between the busyness of the instruments and the folksy melodic primacy of Simen's vocals. Purely symphonic pieces, like the intro to "Evacuation Code Deciphered", sound lush, and yes, this album has a lot of those cool three-world titles that Dimmu Borgir was often using throughout the 90s and 00s. "Hibernation Sickness Complete", "Shipwrecked Frontier Pioneer", "Nocturnal Vision Revisited", they're all over the place, and it makes this record seem like it's some kind of prognard sibling to Death Cult Armageddon. In fact, if you want a lighter touch to that symphonic surge, or you're into the stuff Ihsahn was starting to create post-Emperor, or of course Borknagar, Enslaved, Solefald, Winds and Age of Silence, this one's worth having around. It's still, for me, the least memorable full-length they've dropped, the highs are just not the heights of those before and after, but it's an immersive enough listen from a band that has yet to land a dud on me.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

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