UMUR
"Norska" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Oregon based sludge/doom metal act Norska. The album was originally self-released in January 2011 but Brutal Panda Records released the album in vinyl in September 2012 featuring a different cover artwork.
The music on the album is a raw and heavy type of sludge/doom metal with the occasional nod towards more atmospheric post metal. The delivery is convincing with some pretty extreme shouting vocals to suit the raw heavy riffs and ditto beats. There are occasional clean vocals on the album and they are a nice variation from the raw vocals. When the clean vocals kick in I´m reminded of Neurosis and that act is definitely an influence, but Norska are not clones. For instance they play quite a few mid-paced sections that you´ll seldom hear Neurosis do. Out of the 5 tracks on the 40:03 minutes long album, it´s the 13:02 minutes long "They Mostly Come at Night" that strikes me as the highlight of the album. It´s a semi-progressive track with both heavy riffs, atmospheric post metal parts, raw and clean singing, and some nice melodic guitar themes too. The post metallic doom of the closing "Two Coins For The Ferryman" is also grealy enjoyable. The remaining tracks are relatively adventurous and varied too. The more "regular" sludgy parts with those raw vocals don´t stand out much and if I have to point out a weak spot on the album it´s those parts.
At first I thought the sound production was a bit "thin" sounding, but after a couple of spins I understand that it´s exactly how the band wanted the album to sound and the sound production provides the album with a unique character. "Norska" is overall a quality release and fans of the genre should be able to find lots to like here. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.