Nortt - Galgenfrist

Someday I may actually get around to posting something that isn't manically depressive, but unfortunately for you my little festering piles of larvae that night is not tonight. Instead, I give unto you the all-father of melancholy and nothingness, Nortt. I have a bit of a soft spot for him and this album I'll admit, but it's only because he's just so damn good at what he does (and probably the sweet ass cover art). And what is that some of you may ask? Creating some of the most bleak, depressing and yet oddly beautiful soundscapes you'll ever listen to. This is his third full-length and my personal favorite. Galgenfrist is damn depressing, I dare say even more than Loss's album I posted a while back and that's a very, very good thing. Basically this essentially IS funeral doom. To a T. Inhumanly slow riffs relentlessly pummel the shit out of your face as the kick and snare drum fall behind to pick up the pieces, slowly. There's really not a lot of melody to be found in these riffs, which are so fuzzed out it would make Jus Osborn blush. Instead the guitars and bass are used more so to create a very lonely, suffocating atmosphere in each track, which they do perfectly. Where the melody does come from, however, is from properly placed eerie piano pieces and creepy as fuck synth parts. They're not used excessively mind you and Nortt does a damn good job of making sure they add to the background atmosphere as opposed to taking center stage. Then theres the lyrics, naturally you can't really make out what he's saying from his tortured moaning and growling (which are quiet enough as it is) but they do a damn good job of conveying their meaning with how earnest they are. Truly an album worthy of wielding the mighty Doom Hammer, which it does with much sorrow. Pick this up and enter the world of Nortt.

Oh, and on the chance some of you think he's some ignorant bed-room hermit with no life, check out the interview link I posted, he did it about a year ago and the man's pretty damn smart.

…melancholy is a fearful gift. What is it but the telescope of truth?

Interview