Niden Div. 187
"Impergium
/ Towards Judgement"
Dawnbreed
Records 2023
Now, what a gem has
Dawnbreed Records dug up for me! Admittedly, the reissue of the recordings of
Niden Div. 187, originally composed in the second half of the nineties, is
being released not for the first time, but neither at the time when they were
made, nor in the years that followed, did I ever encounter them. It took me a
quarter of a century before realising the fact that such a band existed at all.
Shortening the history lesson to a minimum, Niden Div. 187 was a side project
of the dudes from Dawn, Thy Primordial and A Canorous Quintet, just to name the
best-known names, although the musicians contributed to many other projects. And
the vinyl box I'm currently holding in my hands contains all of the Swedes'
recordings, namely the demo "Towards Judgement," the later EP of the
same title, with re-recorded tracks from the demo, and the only full-lenght album
"Impergium." Together, it gives over forty minutes of music. What
kind of? Probably the simplest way would be to describe it as anti-human black
metal, for it accumulates all the evil and misery that befalls our species.
Interestingly, at the time when these recordings were made, black metal was
gradually losing its original ugliness. It was becoming more accessible and
gaining more and more followers. And after all, that wasn't the fucking point!
And at that point Niden Div. 187 showed
the world the middle finger by recording true black metal in its most hideous
and aggressive form. Above all, their compositions are a frontal, ruthless
attack. The destructive war machine slows down here immeasurably rarely, mostly
rushing ahead at top speed. It may not be as steady a blast as on "Panzer
Division Marduk," but there are really few moments to catch your breath.
Too much similarity in the way of riffing between Niden Div. 187 and Marduk,
however, shouldn’t be sought. The authors of "Impergium" are
decidedly closer to the style of Zyklon B, in many respects. First of all, the
work of the rhythm section and even the sound of the drums is very similar
here. Also the harmonies, relentless, based on fast riffing, contain a similar
dose of ice-cold melody. Certainly not uniform, because even if the compositions
here usually don’t exceed three or four minutes, they weren’t built on the same
looped motif repeated from beginning to end. It can be said that their
structure, although not very complex, is the musical equivalent of a
Kalashnikov and executes effectively under any conditions. It is still
appropriate to mention the vocals, as they are no less ferocious than the
guitar lines. Henke exploits his vocal cords in such an intense way that I
wouldn't be surprised if he was spitting blood during the recording session.
Add to this the visuals and the brief war samples that appear in places, and
you get black metal of the purest blood. Black metal that is evil, unpleasant,
anti-trend and full of hatered. Fuck, it's wonderful to dig up such forgotten,
dust-covered treasures from the past. Look around for this release, for it is
worth, without exaggeration, any money. For me, absolutely phenomenal material.
- jesusatan
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