Nordjevel — Necrogenesis
In 2019, Osmose Productions released Nordjevel's second full-length album, Necrogenesis. The album is available in several formats - Double Black Vinyl LP, Double Red Vinyl LP, CD and cassette. All this is available for order from the website of the label. Also on the label 's Bandcamp label, a digital version of the album is available for order and download.
The cover is a rather dark and gloomy affair. Against the backdrop of a dark sky and lifeless stone cliffs, in the centre of the cover, stands a human figure, simultaneously resembling a zombie and a mummy. He wears black clothes that resemble Roman or Greek togas. In his right hand, he holds the withered corpse of a dog or some other small animal. In his left hand, he holds a metal goblet. Behind his head is something similar to a halo, only in black and with an obvious metallic texture. The stones on which the figure stands are slightly highlighted in dark red. Maybe it's blood or the dark glow of lava. The overall tone of the entire overlay is black and white, but with touches of a dark red colour. At the bottom of the picture is a grey Nordjevel logo, which is a stylized gothic font with a grunge texture. Along the sides of the figure, there are two vertical black stripes on which the name of the album, Necrogenesis, is written in dark grey Gothic type. In general, the cover seemed to me very successful, although not that original. The artist's style of work reminded me of the covers of the Polish black metal band Behemoth. The two vertical stripes with the name of the album became a controversial subject for me. It seems to me that they are absolutely unnecessary here.
The album, with a total duration of almost forty-seven and a half minutes, consists of nine tracks of approximately the same length. In terms of music, Nordjevel offers us black metal, in which aggression and melody are very organically combined with each other. The first thing I appreciate is the sound quality- the crystal clear sound of guitars and drums. It is worth saying thanks to the sound engineer. But it seemed to me that it was worth paying more attention to the bass guitar too. We hear this, but I would like to add density to the sound of the bass guitar. Guitars have a pleasant timbre, despite the rather aggressive sound. It should be said that if keyboards are used on the album, they fit so well into the general sound that they are not noticeable. Personally, I thought that this is a purely guitar black metal. I liked the vocalist's job too, despite the fact that his vocals are classic for this genre. As for the musical part, I would describe the music of Nordjevel as near-progressive Black metal. The compositions are complex, they have many changes of rhythm and melodies, remaining in the classic black metal style. However, I heard many references to other genres of heavy music — Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal and Death Metal.
We can say that Nordjevel are similar to a lot of Scandinavian black metal bands from 1994 to 1997 . In every riff, I hear echoes of classic black metal albums. Here are my associations - Enslaved (times of the album Frost), Marduk, Dark Funeral, Immortal (since Battles In The North), Satyricon (since Nemesis Divina). Moreover, I believe that the music of Satyricon in the 90s was the main inspiration for Nordjevel in this album. Of course, we hear these elements, but they are just an influence, as Nordjevel give there own twist, but keep the atmosphere inherent in classic black metal albums.
I 'd say that Necrogenesis is not a masterpiece or too original. However, the energy, power, aggression and adherence to the canons of the genre, along with the obvious professionalism of the musicians, made this album a must-listen for black metal fans.