Wilytank
Here is Nortt, a funeral doom metal act that draws influence from black metal. I've heard a good amount of good things for Nortt's debut, 'Gudsforladt'. Before listening, I did notice that none of the songs reach six minutes in length, which kinda worried me. But as it turned out, 'Gudsforladt' was an intriguing trip all the same.
The intro "Graven" starts out with rainstorm samples. After a loud clap of thunder, the keyboards come in with the rainstorm still going in. The tolling of a church bell can also be heard. When this intro ends, the rainstorm plays right into "Doden". Opening with the rain and a weak vocal moan, the funeral doom gets kicked off to a start relatively quickly.
The vocals in the album are either seen in black metal growls/screeches or slow spoken word (lyrics are in Danish). They fit to the lyrics dealing with death, darkness, and solitude. Musically, the most prominant instrument in any of the songs is the keyboards. The keys are easily the most likely to make an impression on the album, and they vary from either piano to ambient-like synths such as those seen in the first two songs. The guitar riffs are pretty standard for the funeral doom environment, and they don't ever take any big leads.
Perhaps the biggest letdown of the album is the lack of variation or room for variation. The songs are short by funeral doom standards and only allow room for about two different rhythms per song. The keyboard fights hard to make the songs interesting, but it often isn't enough. I'm not saying that any of it is bad in any way. Most of these songs are really amazing when listened to singular; but when put together on an album, it gets a little worse for wear.
I know this review is short, but there really isn't much to say about this album. It's a simple funeral doom metal album that I can certainly see many die-hard fans of of the genre enjoying (myself included). Perhaps if Nortt put a little more music into these songs, he would succeed in making something really, really interesting.
By the way, listen to this album in a thunderstorm. If the awesome artwork is any indication, this is an excellent choice of music to listen to while staring out a window at the outside rainy environment.