Pest is the new release from Norse and follows on from the project’s 2012 album All Is Mist And Fog. It’s a decent listen, with some fantastic elements, however there are also some sections where it falls somewhat short.
Clocking in with six tracks, Pest is indeed a substantial offering for an album, helped especially by the meaty and powerful vocals of ADR, whose vocal style ranges from black metal to doom to death, and his versatility really shines through, with particular highlights being the half-garbled vocals at the end of opener Encoded Weakness and the snarled lines of Irradiator.
Closing track Aimless stands head and shoulders above the rest of the tracks and the eerie opening works in Norse’s favour before they go and blast you with some good old fashioned noise to help keep things moving along. The listener is then treated to a more sludgier section before there’s one last burst of energy and the song ends in much the way it started, which was a nice touch.
However, it does have to be said that Pest does leave a little to be desired as a whole. Whilst there’s no mistaking that it does have its strong points, there’s nothing that quite grabs you about a large quantity of the release – indeed, some parts sound like they’re repeating over and over – and although it’s good, it doesn’t quite have the momentum to be a great EP.
7/10
