Vananidr – Road North
Swedish one-man black metal musician, Anders, has been busy since the split of his former band, Hydra. In this project, he has ‘...been creating his take on black metal fused with melodies from Swedish folk music.’ (from his Bandcamp site). The energy in this album is tempered by a fabulous slow synthy almost 7 minutes of non guitar. Then, the complicated sound and heavy playing is heavier than I often associate with one-band projects – which are often of the depressive black-metal flavoiur. "Road North" is MUCH heavier. The vocals are also less atmospheric than even Xasthur.
One should be impressed with the intricacy of the sound, as heavy as it is, for a one-man project. For instance, in the second track, ‘Cold Dead Skin', after about the 3 minute mark, there is a long guitar over bass and drums section that mixes solid rhythm and really decent emotional fast melodious guitar picking – mostly in the tremolo style.
One of the reasons that folks really enjoy metal, especially blackened metal, is the repetition. I am not 100 % positive everyone would want to admit that – but I think the repetition is an essential element in the emotional layering from track to track. I don’t mean that each song is the same – that is certainly not the case with "Road North" – but that the repetition is one of the ways the droning and melancholy of the tracks are released. There are a lot of emotions in that repetition.
Case in point, the third track, ‘Melancholy March', where the riffing heavy guitar of the second track play with the bass, in the third track, the guitar takes on a level of disconnect from what the bass is playing – which creates a space between the two levels: low and high. But the repetition of the guitar is also much slower – especially at the 3:13 mark when the single chords are struck and the drums and bass do something else below the guitar. That melancholy reaches into that space and changes the emotional texture very well (hopefully, this is not too confusing. I am always looking for new images to explain the way a sound feels). :)
The production value is really decent too. But there are certain tracks that I think really exhibit the one-man aspects. Specifically, ‘Plains Of Destruction’ has a unity of sound that could only come about because the song is taking suggestions from one creative ego. This is not a negative comment – but a thing one must acknowledge about one-man metal projects.
One has to make note of the last two tracks, which are really two parts of a long piece: ‘Introduction To Ancient Powers’ and ‘Ancient Powers'. The first of the two is made of two guitars mixed on top of each other – played slowly and emotionally with clearly defined notes (although properly distorted). The second of the two, which is also the last track of the album, pulls the guitar riffs back into the mix, producing a sonically snug closure to the album. I have to admit – that change could also be an opening for a new section of playing – maybe a long new section making the album quite long – but either way it really works. The last few seconds of the track find a lead track erupting quietly from the mix and picking along until the end. And then it’s over. Very good.
Vananidr already has a new album out as of October 2019 – so I look forward to hearing it.
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One should be impressed with the intricacy of the sound, as heavy as it is, for a one-man project. For instance, in the second track, ‘Cold Dead Skin', after about the 3 minute mark, there is a long guitar over bass and drums section that mixes solid rhythm and really decent emotional fast melodious guitar picking – mostly in the tremolo style.
One of the reasons that folks really enjoy metal, especially blackened metal, is the repetition. I am not 100 % positive everyone would want to admit that – but I think the repetition is an essential element in the emotional layering from track to track. I don’t mean that each song is the same – that is certainly not the case with "Road North" – but that the repetition is one of the ways the droning and melancholy of the tracks are released. There are a lot of emotions in that repetition.
Case in point, the third track, ‘Melancholy March', where the riffing heavy guitar of the second track play with the bass, in the third track, the guitar takes on a level of disconnect from what the bass is playing – which creates a space between the two levels: low and high. But the repetition of the guitar is also much slower – especially at the 3:13 mark when the single chords are struck and the drums and bass do something else below the guitar. That melancholy reaches into that space and changes the emotional texture very well (hopefully, this is not too confusing. I am always looking for new images to explain the way a sound feels). :)
The production value is really decent too. But there are certain tracks that I think really exhibit the one-man aspects. Specifically, ‘Plains Of Destruction’ has a unity of sound that could only come about because the song is taking suggestions from one creative ego. This is not a negative comment – but a thing one must acknowledge about one-man metal projects.
One has to make note of the last two tracks, which are really two parts of a long piece: ‘Introduction To Ancient Powers’ and ‘Ancient Powers'. The first of the two is made of two guitars mixed on top of each other – played slowly and emotionally with clearly defined notes (although properly distorted). The second of the two, which is also the last track of the album, pulls the guitar riffs back into the mix, producing a sonically snug closure to the album. I have to admit – that change could also be an opening for a new section of playing – maybe a long new section making the album quite long – but either way it really works. The last few seconds of the track find a lead track erupting quietly from the mix and picking along until the end. And then it’s over. Very good.
Vananidr already has a new album out as of October 2019 – so I look forward to hearing it.
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