Naglfar: To Shroud The World In Darkness

Cerecloth has been a long, long time coming for NAGLFAR. Following the release of the 2012 opus Téras, band leader Kristoffer Olivius put the band on a semi-hiatus playing occasional shows but with no desire for extensive touring, and no focus on writing, to focus his energy on the birth of his children, and raising his family. The limbo was always going to be temporary, however, and when Century Media Records approached the band in 2018 for the new record, Olivius and co. dove into finishing the preliminary songwriting they had done – and the final product proved to be worth the eight year wait, standing as one of the finest pieces of work in NAGLFAR’s entire discography.

“It wasn’t too hard to finalise the album. The songs were already written and pre-recorded last summer, but we chose to take an extra year to let it marinate and to give me time to write good poetry for the lyrics,” Olivius explains how prepared NAGLFAR were for Cerecloth when Century Media came knocking, before reflecting on his feelings of the record. “I’m totally pleased and proud about what has manifested to be Cerecloth – even though I wasn’t really prepared for it to be such an angry album, I have the feeling it’s a very hateful album. This is the version of NAGLFAR you’re going to get after 28 years. If this is what we deliver at this time in our career, I’m incredibly proud.”

The pride Olivius has in Cerecloth is far from artistic arrogance; it is purely justifiable. NAGLFAR had drifted into an obscure memory for much of the metal scene over the last eight years, especially for the newer generation of metal fans, but now they are back and stronger than ever. A particular note of strength for the band lies in Olivius’ lyrical works, which, over the course of this record, have been some of his career best.

“Our lyrical themes have always been very much about the I; everything’s always written from the perspective of one person, the beholder of the world,” Olivius explains. “But we are a band that writes about a wide range of emotions, not just tough themes; I write about being betrayed, the feeling of abandonment and sorrow in general. Cerecloth is a very sorrowful album, the lyrics are quite desperate, maybe as desperate as the Pariah album [2005, Century Media Records].”

And as for specific lyrical themes, or stories? Olivius is a little more secretive. “Poetry is something that has to be read by the person trying to experience it, not something to be explained,” he says wryly. But that just adds to the mystery and mysticism of Cerecloth. The artwork itself, however, hints at the concepts explored in the poetry of the lyrics. “In the lyrics, we’re speaking in a metaphorical way. There’s a cerecloth, the throw that was used to wrap corpses, is being wrapped around the earth as a whole, and all of us individually.”

Stepping back in time, it’s important to remember how far NAGLFAR have come. When their Norwegian contemporaries were trying to sound as awful as possible, murdering each other and burning down churches, the Swedish black metal scene was building something else.

“I really do feel we were one of the pioneers of melodic black metal. I think the reason that that sound was so prevalent in Sweden comes from a background in Swedish folk music – it’s something that comes very naturally, as we were taught how to play from a very young age in school,” Olivius offers, giving his perspective on the quintessential Swedish sound. “This is something that has a lot to do with the Swedish sound, it’s a very melodic sound, but more than that a very sad sound, very much built on minor chords.”

For all the hate, the anger, the misery and the sorrow embedded in the emotional foundations of Cerecloth, it is also a remarkably optimistic record – at least in context. It represents NAGLFAR, a band who have always shied away from the way things are meant to be done, returning to a position of glory. Melodic black metal pioneers, more interested in powerful, special live performances than a schedule built on relentless touring, the work they put to tape means something. But will it be another eight years before NAGLFAR releases more melancholy upon the world? “Probably!” Olivius laughs. “No, we hope to have another album in three or four years, but we don’t know what will happen in life. I feel we still have many albums within us, but it has to have a special meaning for us to release it otherwise it’s just a waste of time for everyone.”

Well here’s hoping there is more NAGLFAR to come in the not so distant future. But in the meantime, Cerecloth is indeed a very special album, a crowning glory of one of black metal’s overlooked pioneers, and a vital addition to the genre. Sit back and relish in the misery as NAGLFAR sends you into the cold voids of eternity.

Cerecloth is out now via Century Media Records. 

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