This is the second album from Swiss sludge/doom band Norna.
Norna contains 41 minutes of dark heavy ugliness, brought to us by the ex-singer of Breach and two members of Ølten. Norna’s music will surely satiate fans hungry for the heavier, darker side of sludge/doom/post-metal.
These six songs offer up a harsh mix of corrosive sludge, cataclysmic doom, and abrasive post-metal. Boasting vitriolic hardcore vocals and crashing waves of bleak distortion, it’s heavy and menacing, but far more considered and well-written than the average for the style. Norna has been forged with skill, making for music that engages instantly with its crushing presence, and lingers with a foul otherworldly longevity due to the quality of the material.
Norna’s music may be punishing, but it’s not without shades of grey. While Norna are more than happy to pummel you into the ground, they’re also very capable of crafting the sort of mood-rich heaviness that sits right at home with some of the more notable names out there that play this sort of thing – acts such as Amenra, Body Void, CHRCH, Cult of Luna, LLNN, Neurosis, Primitive Man, Thou, etc. Norna’s music wades through similar waters, yet also carries with it a well-formed voice of its own.
Norna are more than capable of haunting atmospheric worldbuilding, which they use to good effect across the record. There are even broken pieces of melody scattered around, hidden amidst the wreckage of the unfriendly musical landscape. This, ultimately, is the key to the success of this record – Norna have built songs that effectively combine heaviness and feeling into the sort of soundscapes that you want to visit over and over.
I like this type of acidic sludge a great deal, and strong examples of it have been few and far between over the last few years. No longer. Norna satisfy my urge for malevolent heaviness very nicely with their apocalyptic brand of caustic darkness.
Wonderbox Metal 