Released on: 22nd January 2021
At three albums in Endezzma are a Norwegian troupe who will quite happily scratch that True Norwegian Black Metal itch. With their fifth release The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder their sound is as black as new moon night in the middle of winter, and the tone is just as cold while dealing with tales of darkness and nihilism.
This album contains a lot of spirit and that energy is evident throughout its runtime. Well, after its dirge-like intro. But, when the tremolo picking kicks in with the genre defining heavy high-end tones hit there is a sense of home. If home is where the corpse paint lives that is. And, Endezzma take black metal back to its roots on The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder. Where you can hear the thrash influence dripping from every angry pore, like an early Celtic Frost without the blues-ier elements.
There are a lot of good if not great riffs on here but none that foam with the energy of the now old-time, genre greats. But, then this is more of a thrash album that a Viking metal inspired affair, and in that capacity it excels. The expression sounds crisp and the production can be defined by the 00’s sound. But, with black metal, especially good black metal, being oversaturated it is a shame that this is an album that will be easy to look over.
The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder is perfect for what it is. A black metal album. And, apart from the Theremin [you have to give points for the Theremin – Ed] does not rhythmically bring anything new to the back door and instead is mostly derivative of the heyday of true Norwegian black metal. A genre that is steeped in myth & misheard lyrics but that has since lost its teeth.
7/10
