Premiere: Nordland – “Leave My Body To The Crows”
Close your eyes and think of England Nordland
Founded in 2011, Nordland aimed to create music that could lift it’s audience from the material world, from the meaningless ego and return them to cold, damp earth. Since then, it’s sole member Vorh has rigorously guided Nordland through four full-lengths and an EP of misanthropic art. While second wave variant of black metal has always been the foundation upon which to build, every album has been built with an idea – a concept penetrating both style and music, each has been lent a flavour of it’s own. Vorh has gone as far to claim influence from bands like Magma (a sure eye-catcher for me) and Van Der Graaf Generator and while this may not be something readily apparent from the music – although, if one was to go into Songs of Regression’s finale, “The World Serpent”, with the right mindset, they might find those influences – it can be seen and heard in the conceptual thinking and overarching sense of personality throughout each album’s distinct realm, whether it’s the self-titled debut’s Abbath-lead era of Immortal influences or the mix of Enslaved, Satyricon and Hypocrisy on European Paganism’s opening mammoth – “The Mountain”.
Nordland is now moving close to the release of their fifth opus, The Dead Stones, and it is my pleasure to present you with it’s fourth track, “Leave My Body To The Crows”. The Dead Stones sounds cleaner and fuller than Nordland has before – which doesn’t mean it would lack in rawness or power. It’s very good sounding record, with a separating mix and a well-rounded, full sounding bass constantly present – something that always makes me happy in black metal, for black metal and in general a pleasant listening experience.
If previosly Nordland has made their most diverse songs the lengthiest ones as well, “Leave My Body To The Crows” shows that Vorh manages his craft in a more compact form as well. At brisk 8 minutes, he commands the plethora of stylistic influences from previous records into a consistent sound and showcases his songwriting ability going through enough riffs for a lesser band to make an ep out of, interspersed with atmospheric sections and solos, the structure hinting at his non-metal influences. Conceptually, The Dead Stones seems to – ironically – explore less misanthropic waters than the majority of Nordland’s past output has hinted at. exploring the understanding of life through the contemplation of death, weaving mystic and heathen themes around it, seeking understanding of one’s place in life.
PRE-ORDER THE DEAD STONES FOR IT’S OCTOBER 24TH RELEASE DATE THROUGH SATANATH RECORDS / MORE HATE PRODUCTIONS AND VISIT THE BAND AND IT’S LABEL ON FACEBOOK
