Naglfar, one of the most important upcoming Black Metal bands of our days are well-known for their unbelievably dark and infernal releases since 1995.The new album, Pariah, is definitely one of the harshest of their carrier that obviously will please both raw and melodic Black metallers.
Naglfar exist since 1995 when they released their debut album Vittra (Wrong Again Records,1995) .In my opinion this is one of the darkest Black Metal releases. In 1995 their second album Diabolical (WAR Music,1998) followed. Naglfar, harsher and darker in this one, managed to show a different side of their musical creation. Their third album, Sheol (New Haven Records) was released in 2003 and is supposed to be their most successful release and the one that uplifted Naglfar from the underground scene. During the writing of Pariah the singer and founding member Jens Ryden had to leave the band due to job-related reasons and the bass player of the band and singer of Setherial, Kristoffer Olivius, replaced him. The band had toured in the past with bands such as Amon Amarth, Deicide, Six Feet Under,Soilwork, Darkane and Nile and have participated in festivals like Wacken Open Air, Party.San and Milwaukee Metal Fest.
I have to admit that when I heard that Jens Ryden was leaving the band I was very anxious to see what Naglfar would do next. Hopefully the outcome is so good that every doubt has been removed from my mind. Setherial is one of my favorite Black Metal bands so the replacement of the singer didn't bother me at all (even though I still believe that the chaotic vocals of Jens Ryden were the most suitable for the style of the band). Musically Naglfar still manage to create this kind of dark and haunting music that most of the Black Metal fans are familiar with from their previous releases. As a matter of fact it would be logical to think that this album is that one that comes closer to Sheol and the oldest releases, in a way that unites the absolute aggressiveness of the first ones with the more symphonic style of Sheol. The album's first track, Proclamation, is a thrilling intro that creates the most suitable atmosphere for the next track and one of the best on this album, A Swarm Of Plagues. In general the flow from one song to the other happens in such a smooth way that you can hardly notice the alternations between the songs. The feelings while listening to this CD are quite dominating since the lyrics, the growling vocals and the keys in some parts, create a weird atmosphere. The riffs are inventive but this doesn't mean that they are playing something absolutely new. There are moments that Dissection's roughness or Dimmu Borgir's symphonic style come into the gore but this is not very obvious, nor badly played.
This is a lethal release that will please most of the Black Metal fans. The development of Naglfar takes them a step forward and renovates their music. The only negative thing that I have to say is that the total playting time of the album is quite short. I would prefer to see one or two more songs. But this is almost the only drawback.