Norns – In Fog They Appear
This is a re-release of their 2005 demo, remastered and professionally manufactured with new artwork. I don’t pretend to know what the initial release was like but this is well produced with excellent monotone photography to give you a flavour of the cold atmosphere within before you even insert the disc into the player.
German label Voldsom are responsible for the release, their first, and an inspired choice for a debut. I gather it is a label dedicated to high quality Black Metal and ‘In Fog They Appear’ is certainly that. Hurling themselves into the opening track, ‘Descent Into The Black Night’, Norns present a soundscape to rival the vast, bleak arctic wilderness of Finland. Employing a highly suitable primitive sound and production that relies mainly on the single note riffing it is a song that cycles through harsh passages into catchy and tuneful Celtic-like grimness.
‘Supreme Goat Cult’ is an epic nine minute foot stamper that changes frequently from medium to fast tempo and then drops adeptly back into slower parts that you cannot help but nod your head to in a serious manner. As with the first song this one is measured and very well thought out; Norns execute it with all the proficiently of a Black Metal Einsatzgruppen!
If a nine minute song was epic then the title track’s eighteen minutes can be classes as colossal! Featuring brilliantly weighted melancholic and dismal guitaring its a superb accompaniment for drinking ale on long dark Winter nights.
With several passages it returns to a main riff occasionally and variations on a theme. Rather than being boring after a time, the band has judged the length of each segment to perfection and just when you are about to want a change in pace or riff they pre-empt you.
The vocals consist of precise screaming throughout and tend not to vary much but that is fine because they compliment the lengthy chordless riffage perfectly and add to the stark arctic atmosphere of the CD. The percussion could not be more fitting to the music too with a no frills but meaningful contribution it carries the momentum. For me the most unusual trait of this release is that it sounds far from anything else I have heard from Finland. It seems to encapsulate the best from the whole Scandinavian scene, condense it and deliver it totally on its own terms.
I can’t believe that this wasn’t widely picked up by the underground when first released. Hopefully this will get more attention second time around. Unfortunately Norns have since split-up so we’ll never get a full length even though this clocks nearly thirty five minutes. ‘In Fog They Appear’ is a compelling listen that will grow on you with each listen until you familiarise yourself with it and when you do you’ll find yourself savouring every icy moment.
Black Metal is dead. In the UK at least. Seeing as though it is the place that gave birth to the genre it is as fuckin’ useless a broke-dick dog. There is no scene to speak of, just the odd one or two equally useless bands trying in vain to mimic some of the more [...]
Opening with a song title of the length Bal Sagoth would be proud of (thankfully that’s as the only comparison to draw), the imaginatively titled ‘A Glimpse of the Image of Lucifer Gleaming Beyond the Subterraneous Black Sun’ marches forth. Mid paced, it stamps away with the precision of a well oiled Black Metal machine [...]
i like the sample supreme goat cult.. great…