EP REVIEW: Thghtlss Lght – Narvik

The underground extreme metal scene across the world is booming. Driven ever-forward by the ease and accessibility of services like Bandcamp, gone are the days where a major label was a necessity for bands getting their music to the far corners of the world. The German scene, in particular, is enjoying a period of incredible strength at the moment with brilliant death and black metal scenes in the underground, and a plethora of independent labels pushing the bands to new heights. Freiburg’s NARVIK have been grinding away in the aforementioned German black metal scene for much of the last decade, and now, three years after their last full-length album Ascension To Apotheosis, the quintet are back with a new EP courtesy of underground darlings Ván Records. But in such a vibrant scene, how does Thghtlss Lght stack up?

NARVIK kick off Thghtlss Lght with Shattering The Vessels, easing the listener in with howling winds and an ominous, Middle Eastern melody before unceremoniously crashing into visceral riff work accompanied by Redeemer‘s tortured vocals. The transition from the atmosphere-building intro to the music could have been executed better, with the almost-two-minutes of introduction falling away immediately and feeling a bit wasted, but Shattering The Vessels quickly makes up for this miss-step by delivering sinister, bordering on melodic, black metal. Easily transitioning between classic second-wave ferocity and more enchanting, evil-sounding passages, NARVIK quickly establish their growth from Ascension To Apotheosis and showcase a new level of quality. However, at eight-and-a-half minutes, the opening track is guilty of overstaying its welcome ever so slightly.

Mid-point song Womb Of Lilith keeps the haunting atmosphere Shattering The Vessels established moving forward. Again, Redeemer shows himself to be one of NARVIK‘s strongest assets, his vocals effortlessly moving between tortured, unnatural shrieks, more “standard” extreme metal tones and cult-like yells, a la BEHEMOTH or SULPHUR AEON. The baby of Thghtlss Lght, Womb Of Lilith clocks in at “only” eight minutes, but does a wonderful job of showing the real strength of NARVIK – the slower, more melodic, and more sinister elements of their sound make up the bulk of the track, and prove to be far more effective than the blistering aggression showcased in Shattering The Vessels.

NARVIK close Thghtlss Lght with easily its strongest song – Into The Patterns Of Ajna. Clocking in at a whopping nine minutes, the quintet make use of every second. Doubling down on the slower, more atmospheric stylings introduced with Shattering The Vessels and mastered with Womb Of Lilith, Into The Patterns Of Ajna perfectly establishes an unsettling feeling to draw the EP to a close. The bursts of dissonance and untamed aggression do feel a bit out of place, however, and could have been written into the track with stronger execution. This has proven to be the major downfall of Thghtlss Lght as a whole, but the bulk of the band’s sound is solid.

With just three tracks making up a run time of 25-and-a-half minutes, Thghtlss Lght certainly doesn’t suffer from a lack of material. The progression from Ascension To Apotheosis to Thghlss Lght is incredible, with NARVIK showcasing a far more adventurous and intelligent brand of songwriting throughout, and, for the most part, a far superior level of execution. Though there is still work to be done if NARVIK want to establish themselves in the upper-tier of 21st century black metal, Thghtlss Lght shows a lot of potential for the future of the quintet’s journey into darkness and despair.

Rating: 7/10

Thghtlss Lght is out now via Ván Records.

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