Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Naglfar
Label: Century Media
Release: 2007
Most people just shrug at the name Naglfar. What the hell is that weird name supposed to mean!? So let me start by explaining. Naglfar is a name that comes from Norse mythology and stands for a ship made entirely out of the fingernails of the dead. During Ragnarok, the ship will be lifted from the earth by a flood and carried, together with Hymir and his army of giants, to the final battlefield, Vagrond. The ship will carry the hordes of evil into the last battle with the gods, before a new world rises from the sea.
With their debut album Vittra, the band earned very good reviews, but with the next two records, Diabolical and Sheol, they sailed straight into serious mediocrity. With Pariah they thankfully fixed the taste, and with Harvest they’re going to spice it up even more!
The band has put some “oomph” back into the music, and the songs have soul again. Harvest is a very good record with a properly misanthropic feel. All nine tracks on the new album are furious, noisy, technical, and fast black metal. The sound is still quite original, and it’s refreshing to hear traditional black metal mixed with the melodic touch of Swedish death metal. The harmonies are frighteningly icy, and the epic melodies blend superbly with the cold, deep, and gloomy vocals of Kristoffer W. Olivius.
That’s exactly the best thing about this record – a fantastic interweaving of dark romantic atmosphere with merciless brutality. It’s the keyboard parts that create a sense of vastness, endlessness, and infinite perspectives. Naglfar aren’t a completely typical black metal band, and that shows in the appealing thrash riffs, sharp as a razor.
The melancholic but damn heavy riff in The Way of the Rope recalls early Naglfar, but there’s clear, logical progress. The Mirror of My Soul carefully builds atmosphere up to a devastating black metal chorus that mixes old and new in a spiral of violence. Odium Generis Humani is pure mutilation, while its complete opposite is the outstanding 7-minute title track with its majestic melodies. The only major minus of the record is that not all the songs are on the same quality level as the killer tracks mentioned above, but luckily they don’t stray much from the very high-quality whole and don’t spoil the record’s good taste. The production is excellent, every single detail is clearly audible, from the blast beats to the bass guitar, while the lyrics touch on the subjects of death and misanthropy.
Harvest is an excellent record, and I don’t see why you shouldn’t swing by the nearest store and sacrifice a nail or two too… Naglfar has set sail and the harvest has begun!
Lineup
Kristoffer Olivius – vocals
Andreas Nilsson – lead and rhythm guitar
Marcus Norman – lead and rhythm guitar
Morgan Lie – bass guitar
Mattias Grahn – drums
Production
Naglfar
Tracklist
1. Into the Black
2. Breathe Through Me
3. The Mirrors of My Soul
4. Odium Generis Humani
5. The Darkest Road
6. Way of the Roap
7. Plutonium Reveris
8. Feeding Moloch
9. Harvest
