It's been a few years, but those Swedish black metal titans that go by the name of Naglfar are back with their latest slab of extreme mayhem for Century Media called Teras. As you would expect with a back catalog that includes such gems as Sheol, Pariah and Harvest, Teras takes the already familiar Naglfar formula of combining fierce black metal with just a touch of death & viking metal, tossing in plenty of melody and brutal instrumentation, which all makes for an exciting listening experience.
No sortage of evil crushers here, from the bombastic "The Monolith" to the manic "Pale Horse", Kristoffer Olivius and crew show that they do what they do quite well. A track like "An Extension Of His Arm And Will" combines complex brutality with symphonics (Dissection, Behemoth, and Dimmu Borgir fans take note!), while "Bring Out Your Dead" wouldn't sound out of place on any of the more recent Satyricon albums, adding some 'blackened death n roll' flavors to the album. A fun piece, but I'm not sure just how much I want to hear Naglfar going this route. Thankfully, "Come Perdition" and "Invoc(H)ate " sees the band return to maniacal black metal, and the grueling, grinding 8 minute closer "The Dying Flame Of Existence" is moody, doomy black/death metal, containing some of the most epic moments on the CD. Olivius' gravelly vocals here are some of the best on Teras.
Teras overall is pretty damn good extreme metal from Naglfar, perhaps not quite up to par with some of their classic releases, but a more than solid entry into their very respectable discography.
Track Listing
01. Téras
02. Pale Horse
03. III: Death Dimension Phantasma
04. The Monolith
05. An Extension Of His Arm And Will
06. Bring Out Your Dead
07. Come Perdition
08. Invoc(H)ate
09. The Dying Flame Of Existence
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