EP REVIEW: The Black Swords Of Winter – Ninkharsag

Close your eyes. It’s 1992, and you’re tape-swapping in Helvete. Euronymous asks whether you dig abrasively primeval, lo-fi production, high-pitched shrieks, and mythical, icy landscapes? As you nod, he starts playing a tape. Had NINKHARSAG been birthed in the 90’s, you’d undoubtedly have been listening to The Black Swords Of Winter, which worships at the altar of second-wave Scandinavian black metal so devoutly you’d call them saints. 

Billed as a conceptual follow-up to 2021’s The Dread March Of Solemn Goods, chronicling the tale of the grim dragon cultists seeking the power to open the gates of primeval chaos to shatter the universe, The Black Swords Of Winter sonically soundtracks its own Blash

Wolf Moon Acclamation suspends your disbelief with a singular metallic riff and slow-burning tribal percussion, before the title track’s muddily-mixed cacophony of guttural shrieks and roly-poly blast beats suck you straight into the centre of NINKHARSAG’s universe like you’re Bastian Bux in The NeverEnding Story.

If you’re looking for fresh perspectives on black metal, you better go back the way you came. NINKHARSAG revel in reinventing the wheel, but does that matter when they’re scratching all the black metal itches you could possibly have? When Beyond The Ancient Crypts Of Sorrow packs blast beats designed to make your ears bleed, basslines so muscular they might as well be gym rats, and tremolo-picked riffs so icy your blood runs cold into a two-minute instrumental ripper, it’s far too much fun to care about anything else.

The Grave Sworn Lords is a bait-and-switch banger: its suspense-building, slow-burning rhythm and riffs lends it a doomy atmosphere, before vocalist Kyle Nesbitt’s venomous shrieks shake you awake with the most chantable chorus a black metal band has birthed in years. The EP’s towering finale, Beneath The Cloak Of Nightfall, is a sonic rendering of Barad-dûr; a 7-minute display of NINKHARSAG’s immeasurable strength that could hold its own with the 90s acts it takes so much influence from.

So, if your vinyl collection features Transilvanian Hunger by DARKTHRONE, Storm Of The Light’s Bane by DISSECTION, and At The Heart Of Winter by IMMORTAL, you’ll greet NINKHARSAG’s The Black Swords Of Winter EP like an old friend. 

Rating: 9/10

The Black Swords Of Winter is out now via Vendetta Records. 

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