R E V I E W
Solitude
Year: 2022
Genre: Black Metal
Label: WormHoleDeath
Genre: Black Metal
Label: WormHoleDeath
Country: International
Line Up:
Line Up:
Evgeny Zoidze - vocals
Jacques Valentyn - guitars
Marco Toba- bass
Riaan Coertze - drums
Cover artwork by Black Star
Debut album for the international band Nastergal, produced by the very active Wormholedeath label.
The members of this band come from New Zealand, South Africa, Ukraine, and Argentina, they all have a good number of recorded albums and active music projects behind them; experience, therefore, is not lacking! Solitude is a rather powerful album with clean and modern sounds, you immediately feel a strong influence from bands like Dark Funeral, but with a more elaborate composition and almost "Progressive Death Metal" nuances. There is no room for the typical "Dark Ambient" intro of Black Metal albums; with the first track "Solitude", we start immediately with a direct sound. The frequencies of the guitars and bass are perfectly fused together. At the same time, the voice stands out; the timbre and the melodic line catch the attention, even if, sporadically, it follows too much that of the guitars. It continues with "Eternal Winter, " alternating more melodic parts with slower ones, but always aggressive. The drumming is linear and precise, but overwhelming because of the sounds without dynamics, almost like a drum machine; even the volume, especially during the blast beat, is slightly higher than the other instruments. "Hermit" seems to be the song with the best structure, very fast, without compromise, also here an excellent proof of the singer who, in the last "Beyond Good and Evil", slightly changes his voice tone becoming more shrill and wicked; finally, a virtuoso guitar solo, lasting about one minute, concludes the EP. Almost 18 minutes in which everything flows quite well, perhaps too many changes risk losing fluency in listening.
We look forward to a full-length of this promising band.
S:A:M:A:
