ALBUM REVIEW: Cerecloth – Naglfar

It has been a long, long eight years, but Swedish melodic black metal pioneers NAGLFAR are back at long last. Far removed from the drama of the Norwegian scene centred in Oslo, in the late 80s and early 90s they, along with DISSECTION, NECROPHOBIC and SACRAMENTUM carved out a very different style of black metal, focused more on melody and emotion than raw aggression. Jumping forward to 2020, NAGLFAR are set to make a triumphant return following an eight-year break – but does Cerecloth reinforce their legacy as one of Swedish black metal’s most important outfits, or was this a record better left on the cutting room floor?

Cerecloth bursts to life in incredible fashion with its title track. Immediately it’s clear that NAGLFAR have no intentions on resting on past successes – they are back, and they are spitting venom. Classic melodic black metal tremolo riffing from Andreas Nilsson and Marcus E. Norman take centre stage amid the machine-gun battery of session drummer Efraim Juntune. The title track proves to be a ferocious start to the record, setting the tone for Cerecloth wonderfully.

And what a delightful tone it is. Clearly making up for lost time, NAGLFAR cover a helluva lot of ground with Cerecloth. That opening title track is ripped straight from the melodic black metal playbook – a book co-authored by NAGLFAR, to be fair – while Horns takes a BATHORY-esque, Viking metal lean before delivering some absolutely stunning lead work that is more akin to the classical days of heavy metal than the frozen brutality of black metal. These bursts of beautiful lead work are a recurring motif, and add wonderful new dimensions to the record – most notably Like Poison for the Soul has some deeply ethereal soloing and The Dagger in Creation offers some bluesy solo work, though there’s plenty of lead-bursts across the whole record.

Speaking of Like Poison for the Soul, here NAGLFAR deliver one of the most sickeningly catchy choruses of their career, with Kristoffer W. Olivius‘s tortured screams matching in pitch with the rising and falling of the riff work. It’s a lovely little touch, and firmly embeds Like Poison for the Soul in your subconscious. Video single Vortex of Negativity blasts in, a typhoon of the kind of melodic blackened riffing NAGLFAR have built their career on amid the punishing drum work of Juntune, before Cry of the Seraphim brings wonderful change of pace with a blackened death metal stomp. A bit easier on the ferocity, BEHEMOTH heaviness and classic black metal grooves twist back and forth brilliantly.

An immediate highlight, Sanguine Tide Unleashed isn’t here to mess about. One of the shorter offerings on Cerecloth, NAGLFAR make use of every second to deliver some of the most savage music of their career, coupled with a simple yet unforgettable chorus. Olivius‘s barked refrain of “A sanguine tide unleashed, a sanguine tide unleashed!” make for furious memorability before Necronaut plunges into the depths of sonic misery, the penultimate track doubling down on the dark, emotional undercurrents that have run throughout the record. Last Breath of Yggdrasil bring Cerecloth to a wonderful close, rounding off the record with another slight dose of Viking metal, drowned in melody and memorability. A spectacular end to a spectacular return.

The range of extreme metal scope the trio cover here is phenomenal. After eight years, they could have released a rush-job of mostly killer classic melodic black metal, and that would have been just fine. But Olivius and co. have no interest in being just fine. Cerecloth brings in Viking metal elements in places, a more ferocious traditional black metal sound in others, it dabbles in extreme melody and a more savage blackened death metal lean, all while still sounding classically NAGLFAR. NAGLFAR‘s absence from a steady release cycle has clearly done nothing to dent their creativity. In fact, Cerecloth shows them at their very best. Here, they are emotional than ever, more brutalising, wrapped in a proverbial cerecloth of frostbitten production and wonderfully traditional lead breaks. Cerecloth may just be the magnum opus of NAGLFAR‘s. This is the zenith of melodic black metal, and a glorious achievement for the trio.

Rating: 9/10

Cerecloth is set for release May 8th via Century Media Records. 

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