DJEVEL – Natt Til Ende

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  DJEVEL
• Duration: 00:45:53
• Available from: 11/15/2024
• Label:

• AftermathMusic

The more the years pass, the more Djevel are becoming the standard-bearers of typically Norwegian black metal.
After an unmissable series of albums of a certain depth, the trail of high-level releases by Djevel continues with the new and ninth full-length, entitled “Natt Til Ende”.
And it is precisely the night, 'natt' in Norwegian, that guides us through the thousand fascinating faces of this release with incredible pathos: a journey into eternal darkness that begins with an exciting song like “Bespottelsen”, where an initial riffing resulting from best Norwegian black metal school, from Gorgoroth to Immortal and Mayhem, gives way to one of those evocative passages of the 90s Nordic black metal tradition in a broader sense, where synths have a fundamental left part without necessarily being excessively symphonic, like those of “Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk” by Emperor or “Vikingligr Verdi” by Enslaved.
The darkness seen by Djevel is truly fascinating, and this album represents the last part of a trilogy that puts an end to any hope of light, of a God, of Christianity. The beginning of the trilogy “Tanker Som Rir Natten” had the task of casting darkness over creation, while the second chapter celebrated the apotheosis of the night and its victory over the light “Naa Skrider Natten Sort” thanks to a black metal that highlighted Djevel's symphonic and epic influences in black and white. As the last part of the trilogy, the third chapter is perhaps the most monolithic and cohesive because it has the task of making everything that rebels against the darkness succumb under its weight, therefore there is no room to unbalance the black sound in favor of influences metal as done in the previous chapters.
The night is artfully painted by this trio whose ranks, let's remember, also include a certain Faust on drums (ex Emperor).
The devil's claw is even sharper in the track “En Vinter Efter Kommer”, where a biting black metal is accompanied by a folk metal passage with an epic flavor. The true magic of ours is precisely that of reviving a now dormant epic black metal spirit, managing to exhume memories that lead back to Isengard, Ulver or even the Satyricons of the “The Shadowthrone” era.
The only point to make, this time, is that the final part of the album is a little subdued compared to the initial one and is a little less emotional, but this does not affect the value of this release.
For example, the title track at the end of the album, following the instrumental and atmospheric “I Skovaandsvafn”, is also the result of the tradition that harks back to Enslaved and Emperor from the first hour, but its excessive length (almost a quarter of an hour) makes it too distracting and with the slow passing of the minutes the nocturnal mood that initially enveloped the song is also lost a little. In any case, for several years now, Djevel should represent a must for all lovers of black metal made in Norway, also because the custodians of this glorious tradition, unfortunately, also thanks to the inexorable passing of the years, can be counted on the fingers of a hand.