Metal Revolution - Aug 06 - by Bato

Nirnaeth is a metal quartet hailing from the Northern French city of Lille. Thrown Athwart the Darkness is band’ second release, a follow up to 2004 Nothing but Ashes which is btw. sold out. This fact tells you maybe something about the quality of the music the band is creating.

The music is direct, sincere and various and Nirnaeth manages to create this great balance composing a few different metal genres, everything from raw and honest black metal with thrash ferocity and the power and aggressiveness of death metal. Thrown Athwart the Darkness is a 9 epic, with strong titles and killer lyrics in best black/death vain. It sounds like you’ve heard it all before, because the band is drawing musical influences back to Mayhem, Death, Immortal, Cannibal Corpse etc. but on the other hand, the music and lyrics are so honest and very approachable that it can not be considered as rip-off in any way.

Very good production is also supportive of the songs making it a real pleasure to listen to. It is not so often I have the opportunity to listen to this magic portion of black metal madness. The vocals are another nice surprise, raging from screams to growls to more melodic parts, really another positive thing about this promo cd. CD is followed by very cool pressbook with all needed information about the band, its history, members, previous works as well as the tour dates and shorter feedbacks from the press.

Everything you need is there, and Nirnaeth deserves all respect from not being like others, not following clichés and producing material that is just different and professionally done unlike many bands from the darkest underground. Be sure that you’ll hear about them again. For more info on this quite interesting and innovative release, please see: www.nirnaeth.com

author awarded score : 83 / 100