Domgård “I Nifelhels Skygd” (2010)

Honestly, there’s a lot around “I Nifelhels Skygd” that is outspoken embarrassing. I won’t bore you with many details. As you can see above this band from Svea Rike puts a lot of energy into an uncompromising svart metall appearance, with the “selling point” on top that some of the band members were imprisoned for… well, everybody with a candle in his brain can imagine!

So long, so boring. The surprising aspect of “I Nifelhels Skygd” is the authentic good music. Not “good” in a sense that there is any avant-garde idea in the shadow of Nifelheim, no, not at all, but at least quite good in the way this black metal is created, with obvious passion and a feeling that must be missed by all those whining “everything was better in the past”. Sure, this effort neither wins the competition with milestones by Kvist, Obtained Enslavement, Dissection and early Necrophobic (to name but a few), nor can it compete with furious outbursts of energy and emotion from bands like Graupel, yet it feels alright in its raw, primitive, yet not too narrow approach. DOMGARD offer some quite atmospheric riffs and melodic compositions which take up the legacy of Dissection without ridiculing themselves on the musical level; and that is more than I assumed. There are many details on this album which have been performed in a specific way because this band obviously feels the music this way. That’s why I like putting on “I Nifelhels Skygd” from time to time. Some might call this average or even worse and from a forced “objective” perspective I would agree, but “old school” is no synonym for “bad”, as far as I’m concerned.

If you like your black metal anti avant-garde with triple “A”, you might have a relaxed time with this debut album. It’s a good soundtrack for ironing, baking a chocolate cake or thinking of how ugly you were when you tried corpse paint for the first time. Black metal can be ______, can’t it?!

-Thor Joakimsson 

VITALS:

Release:  2010
Label:  Frostscald Records
Avantgenre:  Anti Avant-Garde Svart Metall
Duration:  60:55
Origin:  Svea Rike
Official site:  http://www.domgard.se
Review online since:  10.11.2010 / 23:00:11

TRACKLIST: 01 – Austawiduz Sturmaz (Intro) 02 – Nidhöggr 03 – Det Mörka Trolska Djupet 04 – Svartdraugars Likfärd 05 – Strömmen 06 – Gravlagt I Skymningsrök 07 – Mörkridors Drottning 08 – Av Muspells Eldar Krönt 09 – Kimfrostens Ande 10 – Över Nidafjäll Mot Tomhetens Däld 11 – I Nifelhels Skygd (Outro)