ALBUM REVIEW: Incarne – NNRA
The brainchild of one Louis Lambert, France’s NNRA has spent the last couple of years producing an amalgam of blistering black metal, rumbling and emotive post-metal and unsettling dark ambient. His work, since NNRA’s inception, has been wildly ambitious and satisfyingly experimental. It is important to note here that Incarne will not be for everyone, and one of its primary qualities will be alienating to the majority of listeners: Lambert’s will to push your attention span. This is a black metal album structured in the form of a classical piece; a DIMMU BORGIR album, it ain’t. The album is divided into movements that follow the rhythm of the poem, and the nightingale’s story.
In reality, it is only logical to view Incarne as a single piece rather than a collection of individual movements. Just as it would be foolish to review SLEEP’s Dopesmoker as Jerusalem Parts I-IV, this can only be consumed as a 40-minute exploration of atmospheric black metal. If 40 minutes doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, it is important that you understand the level of diversity present here. At the beginning, after a menacing GODFLESH-esque fade in, a marching industrial riff is introduced, calling upon influences such as DARKSPACE and, perhaps most fittingly, BLUT AUS NORD. This seamlessly bleeds into a delicate DEAFHEAVEN-style hook, and it becomes abundantly clear just how brave this group are; they draw you in with one riff, and switch for another so gradually you won’t initially notice.
Incarne also allows Lambert to explore his apparent love of post-rock. There are a number of moments here where NNRA evoke the recent work of EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY by employing rich and sweet guitar textures, underpinned by artificial-sounding percussion. This will likely alienate many black metal purists, but post-rock has been a bedfellow of black-metal since BURZUM released Hvis Lyset Tar Oss in 1994. With the presence of WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM and DEAFHEAVEN, it has become more and more accepted and even welcomed in a scene so often tribal, so it’s actually a fitting addition to the album and provides colour and depth which it didn’t previously possess.
While being entirely instrumental, Incarne manages to evoke a wide emotional palette. Based on an ancient Arabic poem about incarnation, detailing how a mute nightingale’s love for a rose brought colour and sound into the world. It’s a deeply stirring text, and it is evoked in a startlingly effective way on Incarne. The album’s division of movements follows the rhythm of the poem, and the nightingale’s story, adding bones to a story which most of the listeners will likely be unfamiliar with. Should you choose to not explore the text which inspires the piece, you can still have the same emotional journey evoked for you by Lambert and his exceptional ear for sequencing.
The production on this album is also impressive for an underground act; while it is true that in the modern age of technology, anyone is capable of producing a high-quality album, it takes a musical understanding to use those tools to your advantage. The clarity used here is wholly appropriate to the music at play and adds a touch of class to the final product. It is also a flexible piece of engineering, as it lends itself to CEREBRAL FIX-style industrial marches just as well as it does TORTOISE-style post-rock ramblings; a difficult balance to strike struck well with such limited resources.
To conclude, this album won’t be for everyone; it’s not an easy listen and demands patience a way that many fans will be unable to offer. The post-rock listeners may be alienated by the black metal, and the black-metal fans may feel betrayed by the presence of other influences. However, they are the ones who lose here; this is an accomplished album which shows NNRA possess the room to grow necessary to craft something special. This album isn’t perfect, but it shows Lambert to be a man capable of greatness in the future. Incarne is a bold statement of intent and demands your attention.
Rating: 7/10
Incarne is out now via self release.
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