NAGLFAR - SHEOL
Century Media - 2003
By Rodrigo Escandon
The third album by Naglfar is titled Sheol which in Hebrew means "hell" and it is the perfect title for this album because Sheol could definitely be the aural representation of what hell is. With their melodic blackened/trash style, Naglfar starts with all guns firing from the first song "I Am Vengeance" (a simply mind-blowing song with the right mix of brutality and melody) to the second to last song "Force of Pandemonium" with only the final song, the instrumental "The Infernal Ceremony" providing a breather for the listener.
Those of you familiar with Ex Inferis will find a slightly different version of the song "Of Gorgons Spawned Through Withcraft". For one the opening keyboard melody is not present and the sound in this version is consistent with the sound of Sheol, it is just bigger, louder, better and easily one of the highlight of the album. The guitars are more in your face and Marcus and Andreas play them magnificently. Their attack is definitely akin to some of the great guitar duo's like Murray/Smith with their constant barrage of leads, riffs and melodies. The drum sound is also improved, in Ex Inferis they sounded too thin and that problem is definitely corrected here. Vocally, Jens has a Dani Filth quality but not as high-pitched. It's a more controlled style, not as over the top and at times he comes up with great low growls. Another excellent song is the dynamic "Black God Aftermath" with an intro that starts slowly and frantically picking up the pace with Jens's screaming.
Sheol offers plenty of surprises like the decidedly non-black metal song "Unleash Hell" with guitar melodies found more often in melodic death metal bands and the intro riff in "Devoured by Naglfar" with the solo underneath reminds me of thrash metal. It is these variances in sounds throughout the album that makes Sheol such a great listen time after time and makes it hard to pigeonhole them into one type of genre. But no matter what genre one decides to put on this album and to Naglfar one thing will be perfectly clear, Sheol is one of the best releases of the year.
Cenutry Media Records Website
Naglfar Official Website
Century Media - 2003
By Rodrigo Escandon
The third album by Naglfar is titled Sheol which in Hebrew means "hell" and it is the perfect title for this album because Sheol could definitely be the aural representation of what hell is. With their melodic blackened/trash style, Naglfar starts with all guns firing from the first song "I Am Vengeance" (a simply mind-blowing song with the right mix of brutality and melody) to the second to last song "Force of Pandemonium" with only the final song, the instrumental "The Infernal Ceremony" providing a breather for the listener.
Those of you familiar with Ex Inferis will find a slightly different version of the song "Of Gorgons Spawned Through Withcraft". For one the opening keyboard melody is not present and the sound in this version is consistent with the sound of Sheol, it is just bigger, louder, better and easily one of the highlight of the album. The guitars are more in your face and Marcus and Andreas play them magnificently. Their attack is definitely akin to some of the great guitar duo's like Murray/Smith with their constant barrage of leads, riffs and melodies. The drum sound is also improved, in Ex Inferis they sounded too thin and that problem is definitely corrected here. Vocally, Jens has a Dani Filth quality but not as high-pitched. It's a more controlled style, not as over the top and at times he comes up with great low growls. Another excellent song is the dynamic "Black God Aftermath" with an intro that starts slowly and frantically picking up the pace with Jens's screaming.
Sheol offers plenty of surprises like the decidedly non-black metal song "Unleash Hell" with guitar melodies found more often in melodic death metal bands and the intro riff in "Devoured by Naglfar" with the solo underneath reminds me of thrash metal. It is these variances in sounds throughout the album that makes Sheol such a great listen time after time and makes it hard to pigeonhole them into one type of genre. But no matter what genre one decides to put on this album and to Naglfar one thing will be perfectly clear, Sheol is one of the best releases of the year.
Cenutry Media Records Website
Naglfar Official Website
