Nachtzeit – Där Föddes En Längtan EP (Nordvis Productions)
Wednesday, 13th January 2016
Lustre, the one-man project of Henrik Sunding, who goes under the name Nachtzeit, has amassed quite the nice little following over the years. His oft-brand of atmospheric and ambient black metal personifies the do-it-yourself approach that made basement black metal all the rage a decade ago. And if you take a look at the guy, you’d think there was no way he could churn out four songs in the vein of classic, early 90s black metal like he does here on Där Föddes En Längtan. But appearances can be deceptive.
The first offering under his solo banner, Där Föddes En Längtan charts a familiar, but largely engaging path. The spirited, split melodic/repetitive riff approach so often employed by the sound’s early touchstone bands is in full effect here. It can be mesmeric, like on “En Nyckel Till En Dröm,” which might have just one riff, which is perfectly fine – it’s a good one at that. The most challenging number of the bunch is “I Mörkret,” a song that puts its head down, and rushes through the cold wilderness of spewing, climatic BM, just like old friends Burzum and Darkthrone did when they were in their heyday.
For a band as semi-polarizing as Lustre, the “true,” or “troo” side of Mr. Nachtzeit is welcome via this solo excursion. Totally retrograde, non-progressive, uncontroversial, Där Föddes En Längtan is a proper (and intentional) homage to a sound still beloved by many. That’s what keeps ‘em coming back.
