Tsjuder

Desert Northern Hell

Season of Mist 2004

The production the first Tsjuder album killed the experience for me.  The drums were just horrible.  And that must be saying something since I usually don't care much about production.  Desert Northern Hell however is a completely different animal.  The production is perfect for their style.  Not to mention their songwriting ability is grown by leaps and bounds since Kill For Satan.  They still have their blasting moments but their is also a greater focus on the howling windy riffs and there are even parts that just have a black and roll feel to them.  You will hear what I mean by the stomping groove that occurs within a few minutes of the initial song Malignant Coronation.  For some reason this album of Tsjuder is so much more engaging to me than Kill for Satan.  The songs are much more memorable and the riffing is much more varied.  A good example of things that just stand out and grab me by the throat is the break in the song Possessed where the music just stops and Nag screams "Possessed!" and then a killer guitar throb rumbles below.  I guess my favorite song though is Mouth of Madness with its opening Celtic Frost styled creep that works its way into a headbanging romp followed by some blasting black metal.  It is truly inspiring.  Tsjuder performs an adequate but not spectacular cover of Bathory's Sacrifice.  I guess I feel this way because the main riff that drives Bathory's version seems lost or muddled somehow.  The production is great.  Typical trebly Norwegian style but with a fullness to the sound that gives everything a sort of strength and makes the whole album seem like a dense wall.  The packaging is killer.  I love the way the booklet and CD cross each other with that inverted cross totem.  After not being impressed with the first Tsjuder they came a long way back for me on Desert Northern Hell and they are fast becoming one of the better bands in Norway that are keeping the flame of underground black metal alive.