<Code> - Nouveau Gleaming
Spikefarm - NAULA045 - 16/05/2005
By Patrick Walsh
If you've heard of these guys prior to reading this, then you've definitely got your finger on the black metal pulse. <Code> are something of a black metal supergroup, featuring members from several black metal groups such as Void, Dodheimsgard and even Aiwarikiar from Ulver. The combination of UK and Norwegian personnel threatens to throw an interesting spin on things, but Nouveau Gleaming has certainly more of the latter country's icy isolation than the UK's dripping discontent (evident on the likes of Anaal Nathrakh and The Axis of Perdition of course).
<Code> are not in the business of straightforward black metal primitivism, and their full-length debut plays like a mixture of rollicking latter-day Satyricon, Ulver in their psuedo-folk days and the avant-garde noodlings of Dodheimsgard et al without the electronics. But it's easy to overstate a black metal band's avant-garde tendencies, when often it's more so black metal being a bit weird, and this is certainly true of <Code>. 'The Cotton Optic' bounces along in a manner not unlike something from Satyricon's Volcano, but 'Brass Dogs' is led by lamenting and downcast clean vocals alongside a plodding series of riffs which demonstrates the band's 'don't lump us in with anyone' ethic. 'An Enigma in Brine' is another clean vocal led number that is strangely uplifting, especially with those Garm-like vocals. That's not to say though that they've altogether forgotten how to blast, as 'Aeon in Cinders' demonstrates, whilst the subsequent 'Tyburn' recalls Enslaved at their Viking best. What makes this work such a rivetting listen, however, is that it manages to display its many charms without the expense of a venerable air of spite and gloom that many of their contemporaries neglect.
Nouveau Gleaming is as such quite a multi-faceted work. Initial listenings may prove somewhat frustrating when you're confronted with a band who favour diversity over cohesion, but there's dozens of band's who are more than happy to give you 40 minutes of the same thing and <Code> aren't one of them. Nouveau Gleaming may have appeared from out of nowhere, but enthusiasts of black metal's different faces with most likely revel in it.
8/10
<Code>'s Official Website
Spikefarm's Official Website
Spikefarm - NAULA045 - 16/05/2005
By Patrick Walsh
If you've heard of these guys prior to reading this, then you've definitely got your finger on the black metal pulse. <Code> are something of a black metal supergroup, featuring members from several black metal groups such as Void, Dodheimsgard and even Aiwarikiar from Ulver. The combination of UK and Norwegian personnel threatens to throw an interesting spin on things, but Nouveau Gleaming has certainly more of the latter country's icy isolation than the UK's dripping discontent (evident on the likes of Anaal Nathrakh and The Axis of Perdition of course).
<Code> are not in the business of straightforward black metal primitivism, and their full-length debut plays like a mixture of rollicking latter-day Satyricon, Ulver in their psuedo-folk days and the avant-garde noodlings of Dodheimsgard et al without the electronics. But it's easy to overstate a black metal band's avant-garde tendencies, when often it's more so black metal being a bit weird, and this is certainly true of <Code>. 'The Cotton Optic' bounces along in a manner not unlike something from Satyricon's Volcano, but 'Brass Dogs' is led by lamenting and downcast clean vocals alongside a plodding series of riffs which demonstrates the band's 'don't lump us in with anyone' ethic. 'An Enigma in Brine' is another clean vocal led number that is strangely uplifting, especially with those Garm-like vocals. That's not to say though that they've altogether forgotten how to blast, as 'Aeon in Cinders' demonstrates, whilst the subsequent 'Tyburn' recalls Enslaved at their Viking best. What makes this work such a rivetting listen, however, is that it manages to display its many charms without the expense of a venerable air of spite and gloom that many of their contemporaries neglect.
Nouveau Gleaming is as such quite a multi-faceted work. Initial listenings may prove somewhat frustrating when you're confronted with a band who favour diversity over cohesion, but there's dozens of band's who are more than happy to give you 40 minutes of the same thing and <Code> aren't one of them. Nouveau Gleaming may have appeared from out of nowhere, but enthusiasts of black metal's different faces with most likely revel in it.
8/10
<Code>'s Official Website
Spikefarm's Official Website
