HAGL — Nearer to Victory (review)

HAGL — Nearer to Victory album cover Album · 2010 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Vehemency
”Nearer to Victory”, being Hagl’s debut that was already recorded five years ago and not until now seeing the light of the day via Casus Belli Musica, provides some authentic and epic black metal - with occasional flirts with thrash riffage - in the form of a 25-minute whole that most certainly keeps the listener’s attention throughout.

Musically, there’s surprisingly many ideas packed into this short record, and Hagl, still being a 2-piece band at that time, executes them with frenetic energy. It is not until the fourth song ”Pure Crystal of Cognition” when the pace slows down to a Bilskirnir esque atmospheric wandering with hints of melancholy - otherwise the tempo is kept at a higher level and this is very fine considering the short running time that allows Hagl to be as fierce as it wants with no proper breaks. ”Hail, Father Lucifer!” provides some very sweet, epic riffs and an interesting breakdown, hence belonging to the standout moments on the album.

My main complaint goes to the sound department: the compositions could work better if they had a thicker production behind them, especially the drums that are a bit too airy sounding. Also, the singer’s screams, high-pitched in the rather usual black metal standard, have a distortion effect on them which makes it sound inconveniently unnatural. It is to be remembered, though, that we are in fact dealing with a 5-year-old record and samples from the upcoming album tell that the glitches that are still present on this album have been fixed.

Nonetheless, ”Nearer to Victory” is a worthy investment for those who like to hear some sonorous melodies in their black metal and are not looking for anything excessively new - though Hagl does seem to have their own sound going on, that’s for sure. This one makes my expectations towards the second album pretty high.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rage And Ruin Stoner Metal
SLOWER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Slower Stoner Metal
SLOWER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through A Mournful Song Heavy Psych
NOVEMBER FIRE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Epigenetic Neurogenesis Brutal Death Metal
CEPHALOTRIPSY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Nova Atlantis Power Metal
KINGCROWN
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

November Fire - Wall of Monsters - Doom Metal - Stoner Rock - Heavy Rock - Heavy Psych
NOVEMBER FIRE
Bosh66· 5 hours ago
BANE - Bringer Of Pandimensional Disorder (Official Video)
BANE
Bosh66· 16 hours ago
BANE - In Darkness And Hatred (Lyric Video)
BANE
Bosh66· 16 hours ago
BANE - In Endless Silence (Official Video)
BANE
Bosh66· 16 hours ago
PRECIPITATION - Cosmic (Official Video)
PRECIPITATION
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed