APTORIAN DEMON – Liv Tar Slutt

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7.0

• Bands:
  APTORIAN DEMON
• Duration: 00:28:43
• Available from: 11/15/2024
• Label:

• Kyrck Productions & Armour

Streaming not yet available

It is now a fact that a large part of the Norwegian black metal scene in recent years is concentrated in Trondheim. The so-called “Nidrosian Black Metal” (from Nidaros, the medieval norm of the city), thanks also to the work of labels such as Terratur Possessions, has managed to carve out a place of absolute level in the Norwegian musical panorama and beyond. From Mare, through Celestial Bloodshed and Keep Of Kalessin, up to Whoredome Rife and Vemod, the theme of a quite original black metal was carried forward, balanced between melody and intransigence, characterized by more refined arrangements and a certain care in sounds in line with current productions. In parallel to this new school of sound, however, we find a whole series of bands that move in the Nidrosian underground undergrowth, such as the underrated Gjendød and, indeed, Aptorian Demon, two groups strongly linked to each other and who in fact share two of the members.
Born in the mid-2000s by Magnus Hjertaas (formerly a member of Mare, Celestial Bloodshed and Keep Of Kalessin), this mysterious project has only one EP to its credit and the interesting “Libertus”, a 2012 album after which the tracks. Twelve years later – and thanks to the help of the two main members of Gjendød – Aptorian Demon return with this “Liv Tar Slutt”, an anachronistic, very black and cryptic work, in which there is little room for modernity. Barely half an hour divided over four songs (plus an intro and an outro) in which there isn't a second of breathing space and in which the atmosphere becomes suffocating and not at all comfortable.
The common thread that links Gjendød and Aptorian Demon is that of raw and destabilizing music, in which the guitars vomit walls of dissonant riffs, certainly not particularly original and still very much linked to the Norwegian classical school, but tremendously aggressive, honest and malignant, which is no small feat .
From “Die Hexe Von Buchenwald”, a total tribute to the angularity of Darkthrone's “Under A Funeral Moon” and the very first Gorgoroth, up to the sulphurous “Ildskjær”, which staggers between minimal blast-beats and funereal slowness, there is not a single moment of light, also thanks to a voice that is decidedly uncomfortable, close to the first Dødheimsgard in terms of theatricality and creativity. The claustrophobic sound of “Når Livet Tar Slutt” is wonderful, only apparently softened by vague inserts of acoustic guitars which instead act as protagonists in the five minutes, acoustic in fact, of the nocturnal “Sviking”, which saves us from being yet another attempt at a band to sound like “Kveldssanger” by Ulver, preferring a less bucolic mood and closer to American folk music.
They leave the time that the two instrumental pieces placed at the opening and closing find instead, which seem like mere fillers and give the sensation that something is missing, especially in light of what good the Norwegians show us in the three actual songs.
An EP therefore disguised as an album, this “Liv Tar Slutt”, written by a band that demonstrates a certain confidence in what it does, without major claims of originality, but with an enviable wickedness and intransigence. Which makes the choice of such a limited amount of actual playing time even more frustrating.