Nattkvad

Demo 2006

HDG Distribution 2006

Newcomer Nattkvad brings us 4 songs of really varied and sometimes folky black metal.  Lots of melody and atmospheric passages abound on their demo.  "...I Morkskog" calmly ushers in the album with some clean guitars that remind me oddly enough of something done by Laaz Rockit a long time ago but then all similarities disappears when the midtempo black metal ensues.  The Vocal pacing and sound reminds me a lot of Kampfar at times.  And there are some musical similarities to Kampfar as well, at least to these ears, but for the most part Nattkvad display a huge spectrum of metal influences incorporated into their arsenal.  The melodic leads that constantly rear their head throughout the album interject a sort of playfulness to the music that keeps the music kind of light and dreamy despite the obvious seriousness the vocalist implies.  This interplay is one of the demos best features in my opinion.  Sometimes I even catch glimpses of Gregor MacIntosh of Paradise Lost fame hidden in some of those leads.  I love those calm yet spacey keyboards on the beginning of Fra Avgrunnen.  Though different it reminds me of listening to some of the material from Burzum's Hvis Lyset Tar Oss.  The production is somewhat better than I would have expected even though the drums sound pretty bad.  But so what this is a demo.  heh heh.  But I mean the guitars sound really clean and the vocals are devastating.  The only time I question their songwriting skills is when they use the spoken word sections on Det Spoker where it sounds quite out of place.  I look forward to bright/dark things from these guys in the future.  And I would like to thank Marcel (ex-Vampire Mag) for turning me on to them.