It’s the type of album that can be hard to write about objectively, because it’s really more about how it grabs me and about how it makes me feel, than it is about particular riffs, rhythms, or anything else.
They are a raging alarm call of black metal might, in which Wrath shows himself to be at the height of his powers, even after all of these years and all of these releases.
There is nothing soft about either track, though there is plenty of skill displayed in the mauling they give us.
This demo is a truly excellent example of creating meaning and emotion within objectively difficult music.
Those with open minds and chaos in their hearts will rejoice.
Eerie, beautiful, powerful, meditative…all of these are appropriate descriptors for this spacey third track on Lunar Nocturnes and Esoteric Incantations.
This is, I would say, first and foremost stoner doom, and it has a side order of prog mixed in as well, but it also carries that aura of sludge metal (or maybe Sludge Metal is more apt).
A rich sonic palette paints a deep experiential listen, full of strife and anguish. Though incredibly beautiful, NGR is also stunningly dark, and subtly horrifying.
The album is sometimes spastic, and rarely sits still long, even in the slower parts. And yet it all flows so well together.