wtorek, 17 października 2023

A review of Niden Div. 187 "Impergium / Towards Judgement"

 

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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