WORMWOOD "Nattarvet"



WORMWOOD

“Nattarvet”

In centuries past, the long Swedish winters were a terrible ordeal for rural folks living in the woods and valleys of the snowy land. Hunger and isolation took a powerful toll on those people. Such a dreary existence is perfect fodder for a black metal band and WORMWOOD has tackled that subject on “Nattarvet”.

I was naturally drawn to this band because of their name. They are hardly the first and certainly won’t be the last to use that name, either. But after hearing “Nattarvet”, I’m thinking they might be the best of all WORMWOODs out there. This is a thoughtful work that’s one of the saddest BM albums I’ve heard. They achieve that sadness without giving up any of the speed or “freezing fire” of typical BM. In a year that has featured many surprisingly powerful black metal efforts, here’s another one.

There’s a feeling of sorrow and desperation that clings to the music here. Hints of DISSECTION, older SATYRICON and VREID are prominent. There are also some more melodic, almost jazz fusion like moments that pop up now and again. One could say WORMWOOD has a progressive bent, but at the end of the day (or night!), their fidelity to black metal archetypes shines through.
Top tracks? For me, it would be “Arctic Light” or “Sunnas Hadanfard”, but really, there are no bad tunes here. Some just require a bit more patience than others. You can go ahead and add “Nattarvet” to the list of outstanding black metal records in 2019.

BLACK LODGE RECORDS

WORMWOOD

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