Neurasthénie is the debut record of Niflheim after three demos and one MCD, a Canadian duo devoting the abysmal and depressed Black Metal.

The record begins with Le Neurasthénique, a calm instrumental. In the two first minutes merely a highly calm as at the same time slow played guitar is to be heard, which values a glorious and sad melody. Nothing unusual, but this melody directly goes to the marrow and disseminates impact and affliction. Rough, sluggish and no less melancholic it continues on The Cold Wind of My Breath is Always Blowing. The guitar's sound is extremely raw and thereby dull, what lends the dragging slowness a harsh note. Expressly interesting is Niflheim's singing, which isn't likewise others sluggish dark Black Metal a grievous and shrill shriek, but: rough, guttural, gloomy and more spoken than sung. These vocals express - matching the instrumental accompaniment - decidedly perfect the attribute of latent sadness.

In the atmospheric song Lueur d'ombre the vocals are much more distorted and therewith more extreme, too. This extreme singing is almost even contained to a less conflict with the music, being very calm, catching and in virtue of those harmonic background sounds just atmospheric. This idea combining such opposites isn't new, but knows to attract. Firstly after five minutes it comes to a change in this song. The drums are inserting a slow beat and instead of background sounds enter with a catching-sombre melody the raw guitar.
The barely ten minutes lasting Where So Many Tombs Were Forgotten comes up again with this rude, guttural singing and is sporadically imprinted by an astir but silent keyboard, which is too awkward to me. After some minutes the song is getting fast and driving for some moments, for the first time Niflheim leaves the record's leisureliness. Another instrumental follows with Elder Moons, where a tranquil acoustic guitar is listenable along with a closely joining also calm played piano. Turing out to be very rough and extremely sluggish is Funérailles where the vocals again are exceedingly distorted. The rhythm stays very dragging, but those rough guitar parts alternate with atmospheric passages. Finally follows with Aux Serres De La Mélancolie the longest track on Neurasthénie. As all other songs this is also sluggish. Certainly it's missing here extensively the atmospheric extras therefore prevail raw, powerful riffs as less distorted vocals pleasing me more.

Neurasthénie is a record strongly starting with its first two songs, but sorely flatten a little bit after Lueur d'ombre and not before the last track reaches the initial standard again. Above all the atmospheric elements in places displeased me as on Where So many Tombs Were Forgotten. So the rough guitar arrangements are pleasing me as they embody the heaviness and deepness much better. Perfectly succeeding is this raw singing having a dismal and independent characteristic. Neurasthénie is such a record just running well in the background, if being in the right mood.


Aceust

(Translation by: G.P.)

01. Le neurasthénique
02. The cold wind of my breath is always blowing
03. Lueur d'ombre
04. Where so many tombs were forgotten
05. Elder moons
06. Funérailles
07. Aux serres de la mélancolie


NIFLHEIM
SEPULCHRAL PRODUCTIONS