NAGLFAR – Harvest

Naglfar was formed in the town Umeå located in the far North of Sweden by Kristoffer Olivius and Jens Rydén in 1992. After the demo release, Stellae Trajectio, the band inked the first record deal and entered the famous Peter Tägtgren’s Abyss Studio where they recorded the debut album Vittra that saw the light of the day in 1995. The second album entitled Diabolical had some Death Metal parts that changed the band’s initial music direction, disappointing those who were waiting for Vittra Part 2. The release of the Ex Infernis EP and the full-length album Sheol gloriously marked the return to the Black Metal sound.

Naglfar faced a breakup possibility when the founding member and vocalist Jens Rydén decided to leave the line-up for educational reasons. Fortunately, the bass guitar player Kristoffer Olivius decided to fill the vacant seat behind the microphone since he was familiar with it from his service at the blacksters of the band (Setherial). The new line-up proved its worth in the first Century Media Records release, Pariah, in 2005 and the following tour.

Almost after two years, Naglfar return with a brand new album entitled Harvest, featuring Peter Morgan Lie as the full-time bass guitar player. This album can be considered as the next step after the pretty good Pariah, where the band was moving strictly upon the old-school Black Metal path, mainly focusing on the fast guitar riffs and blast drum breaks. In Harvest, the Swedish sextet has added a great deal of dark atmosphere with minor keyboard arrangements and cleaner guitars as found in the opening track “Into The Black.” Of course, there are the Classic, Old School Black Metal blast beats with relentless drumming and shredding guitars in songs like “Prayer Of Cain,” “Harvest,” and “Feeding Moloch.” It’s obvious that the songs were composed around Kristoffer’s voice that sometimes brings to mind Shagrath’s (Dimmu Borgir) performance, especially in the lower pitches. The best track of the album is the bass guitar-driven “Odium Generis Humani,” where the listener can almost feel the evil darkness between the spiting vocal lines and the melodic rhythm section. The twin guitar work follows the Swedish Melodic Death pattern with almost catchy hooks. Kristoffer screams his lungs out in the aggressive “The Mirrors Of My Soul” with ultra fast drum pedaling, and in “Plutonium Reveries,” kicking in with a depressive piano based intro.

Naglfar have created a pretty good album that takes their sound one step farther from their previous work in Pariah, although it strictly follows a well-known route without surprises or groundbreaking additions. The album comes also as a limited edition that features a bonus DVD comprising four live film clips, a promo video, and an interview with Kristoffer Olivius.