Even though 2010 is officially over, I’m doing my best―in the early stages of 2011―to at least sort through the pile of remaining 2010-releases and serve notice to you, teethofthedivine readers, of releases from last year but still worthy of your attention.

One such release is black metal super group Nidingr who, while unprolific (two demos, one full-length and one compilation since 1996 up to this point), are certainly worth the wait. The bad is comprised of some of Norway’s heaviest hitters, notably guitarist and founder Teloch (1349, Orcustus, Ov Hell), Blarhg from Dodheimsgard and drum god Hellhammer (do I really need to list all his projects?). The end result is a blistering and typically Norwegian black metal effort that’s free from any sort of post-rock, shoegaze, and/or other external influences.

With Hellhammer playing as fast as I’ve ever heard him, the material on Nidingr is unmistakably classic Norwegian black metal, with shrill, urgent tremolo pick riffs and militant marches. Though not as tangibly frosty as their peers, because there’s a nice organic guitar tone and vocals of Cpt. Estrella Grasa are more of a hoarse shout than typical black shriek. I’m reminded of Borknagar’s first album (helped by a dreamy guest croon from Garm on “Baldrs Draumar”) but injected with with 1349’s intensity.

Each of the six songs on Wolf Father kills, from the snarling opener “Fafnismol” through the aforementioned languid injection of “Baldrs Draumar”, utterly relentless “Reginsmol”, and closing duo “Hymniskvita” and “Lokasenna” that feature swirling discordant vortexes and nasty mid-song slow downs ― the album is pretty much perfect black metal.

The only real downside is that there are only six songs that result in 22-minutes of music. Hardly worth the five year wait for such a minimal offering, but don’t let that deter you from one of 2010’s most overlooked black metal releases.

[Visit the band's website]

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