NORSE
Australia has a knack of producing bestial and extreme metal bands with a penchant for tight playing, and Norse carry on the tradition with this their first album. Self released by this blackened death metal outfit I can see this doing well if it gets the right exposure as it’s an incredibly strong album with only the fact that it’s a fairly over-saturated genre at the moment being the only thing that could hamper their world domination. Drumming duties are performed by Robin Stone whose abilities are recognized already by the world community with his ‘other’ band ‘The Amenta’. The album took eighteen months of (caustic metal) love to craft and was well worth the time and effort showing aggression, technicality and pace right from the start with the track ‘V’ being the only let up from the attack, showing a militaristic cinematic soundscape sound to the album. I’m reminded at times as I listen through the album to Steve Asheim’s ‘Order of Ennead’, although having both guitarists contribute vocals allows the songs to have a slightly wider palette. The guitar work is faultless and damn heavy allowing melody to work alongside the heaviness which makes the whole feel like a very controlled affair. It’s hard to pick any definite highlights from the album song-wise, as the album as a whole is such a strong affair and for this the band must be extremely proud. These guys seem to have built up quite a reputation for their live performances on the East Coast of Australia, but for those of us who haven’t witnessed one of their live performances 'Hellstorm' is a perfect introduction to the band Norse.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Self-released
Album
HELLSTORM
Review by Paul Sims
RUNNING TIME:
-
RELEASE DATE:
3rd May 2010
TRACK LISTING
1) Hellstorm
2) The Light of Norse
3) Glory In Death
4) Flesh Abyss
5) V
6) Father of the Norns
7) Spewing Forth Arachnids
8) To Find Orion
9) Devour The Serpents
10) Frozen Deserts of Time
11) War and Her Bastard Sons
2) The Light of Norse
3) Glory In Death
4) Flesh Abyss
5) V
6) Father of the Norns
7) Spewing Forth Arachnids
8) To Find Orion
9) Devour The Serpents
10) Frozen Deserts of Time
11) War and Her Bastard Sons
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Australia
"...an incredibly strong album with only the fact that it’s a fairly over-saturated genre at the moment being the only thing that could hamper their world domination."
