renkls
Now this is an obscure and totally out there release, even for black metal. I'd say the dominant genre here is either blackgaze or noise, as this is just laced in feedback and noisiness. The album itself is one 71 minute track, where the feedback covers over ambient and black metal textures that lurch in and out as if a continuous composition, which this album is presented as.
In one way this is a difficult, beautiful piece of work, speaking on a very different level away from social or political message mongering. It is in a world of its own, and I can't say I've heard anything quite like it. Granted, this is the first album I've heard of Njiqahdda, and I may check out their other works yet. This isn't their most praised effort, and I can understand why. Unless you are well aquainted with noise, this release will really get on your nerves. That and the fact it's pretty hard to tell one moment from the next throughout the composition if you just sit down and flick through it. It takes 71 minutes of melodic black metal mixed with rather harsh feedback to develop itself full circle.
Too long? For me, definitely. It's avant-garde madness, I didn't sense any real logical flow throughout the piece, just a longform blackgaze/noise composition with subtle but noticable beauty to it. I am split on this release because I know its audience is already incredibly small, even in the black metal/noise fanbase - but I like it enough to say it's worth a fan of Njiqahdda's time, as well as a really adventurous black metal/noise sadist.