Nomad
Out 29th March on Osmose Productions
Darkestrah find yet more mileage in the heavy/black/folk military procession metal innovated by Bathory, developed by Graveland, and imitated by everyone from Primordial to Russian and Ukrainian NS bands. The substance of their latest effort ‘Nomad’ consists of marching paced heavy metal riffing, impressive for the amount of information it manages to convey with very little substantive complexity. Riffs are simple 4/4 sequences of openly strummed chords, with only the occasional foray into tremolo territory. But through this almost assembly line approach to cranking out material they craft an epic, borderline unwieldy cinema of weighty, poetic metal.
Darkestrah are notable in this field for building in the folk traditions of the Near East to this otherwise Western style. The timbral range of additional acoustic guitars, off-the-shelf-synth patches, and folk licks borrowed from the usual crop of Northern European traditions puts us on very familiar territory certainly. But Darkestrah have always had one foot in Middle Eastern forms and instrumentation, placing them in a genuine dialogue with the metallic genetics, informing the music to an extent well beyond mere ornamentation. For ‘Nomad’, this is brought to the fore with the recruitment of vocalist Charuk, who alongside a high end distorted howl will work in many clean passages of almost operatic high drama. The intoxicated bedlam of heavy metal meets a sober, considered rendering of historical narrative.
One could be forgiven for dismissing this as pure contemporary folk novelty. The cover depicting (presumably) the titular nomad holding a Morin chur – the national Mongolian instrument featured sporadically on the album – is a red flag as far as referential feedback loops of self-congratulation are concerned. But these elements from an instrumental perspective – whilst welcome and certainly playing their part in elevating the music – are almost incidental to the overall picture across ‘Nomad’. The folk instruments only rarely take a leading role, and oftentimes they are a stand in for a lead guitar refrain. It is the fact that the folk elements are buried within the DNA of the music itself that makes this a more interesting prospect. For example the non-metal rhythmic flourishes borrowed from traditional folk dance forms expressed through the guitars and drums, all of which enhances the narrative as opposed to distracting from it.
The theatrics are subtle, organic, never overstated, and take on a dignified self-assurance as opposed to the marketisation pandering that metal influenced so explicitly by regional folk traditions is wont to indulge in.
The atmospheric qualities are also worth commenting on. The production is earthy, wide, accommodating of the many different timbres and styles on display. But it binds all this activity into a cohesive unit. The dynamic range remains relatively limited. The volume is consistent throughout. Waves of guitar noise are deployed to create a sense of scale and openness, only occasionally deviating from loosely strummed chords to offer a lead melody. This scene setting allows the sharper folk instruments and flexible vocal performance to shine without derailing the underlying architecture of each piece. In this regard it remains firmly in the black metal camp as far as foregrounding of atmosphere is concerned. The panorama, the scenery populated by all these additional elements, remains unified, cohesive, and deliberately informed by an epic black metal compositional package, albeit one heavily informed by heavy metal.
‘Nomad’ is a pleasant surprise of subtle, understated epic metal told through a hybrid language that takes on many guises whilst retaining a coherent, distinct identity of its own. There is a welcome lack of ego within its construction, as all instruments bind and integrate, only rarely taking on lead form, never allowing the infrastructure to become derailed into poppist indulgences. Even the wildest vocal flourishes – striking in their conveyance of high drama – are presented in such a way as to be completely native to the surrounding fauna. Through their maturity and unique perspective on their chosen canvas, Darkestrah have delivered a detailed and dignified surprise of modern epic hybrid metal that both celebrates its component parts whilst transcending them.
Hate Meditations 
Leave a comment