Nortt
| Nortt | |
|---|---|
 Nortt circa 2017 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Odense , Denmark |
| Genre (s) | Black Doom , Funeral Doom , Depressive Black Metal |
| founding | 1995 |
| Website | www.nortt.dk |
| Current occupation | |
Vocals, guitar, electric bass, drums, keyboard |
Nortt |
Nortt ( Danish Nördlich ) is a funeral as well as Black Doom and Depressive Black Metal project founded in 1995 .
Content and concept
The project founded as Nortt is led by a musician under the pseudonym of the same name as a one-man band. The person Nortt does not reveal any information about himself beyond the band project. Neither the name, the age, nor the appearance of him is known. In the mostly coarse-grained images he can always be seen with corpse paint .
As a central conceptual fixed point of the project, Nortt sees death as an “inevitable and seductive phenomenon.” This is how he describes death in his songs “from the perspective of the dying and the dead”, while “the uncertainty of death is preached as more exciting than that familiar pain of life. ”As a result, Nortt's fascination with death is given an erotic component in his songs, which expresses a longing for death. The cultural scientist Scott Wilson describes this fascination with death, which is expressed by Nortt, as "loving identification with death." The musician sees his consciously brought about death as the end of a fulfilled life.
“I imagine my death as the crown of my life. When I have achieved everything I wanted and when I am mentally prepared, I will die in my prime. "
According to Nortt, the texts and music of the project are an expression of the conviction that death conceals "calm, eternal loneliness, infinite oblivion and impenetrable darkness". His lyrics are supposed to convey darkness and desolation to the music and "leave no other hope or salvation than death." Accordingly, he describes suicide at the zenith of his life as the realization of himself and as ultimate blasphemy , which, according to his satanic conviction, is the absolute control of himself Life equals. With reference to Aleister Crowley's thelemic teaching , Nortt rejects any religion that does not conform to his ideas. According to his view, all monotheistic religions serve weak people who could not stand the idea of a nihilistic world and who need a higher-level leadership. He represented an atheistic Satanism , at the center of which would be anthropocentrism , especially human freedom , against the background of the knowledge of one's own mortality. So Nortt represents a strictly individualistic nihilism, in which every person is considered to be fully responsible for his actions. Accordingly, he describes his music as an expression of his conviction and this individualistic-satanic conviction as a further essential component of his art.
“I see myself absolutely as a black metal musician. A true black metal musician is an individual who pays homage to Satan (among other things) by playing metal. "
history
The musician Nortt founded the project in 1995 and released three demo cassettes from 1997 to 1999 before releasing the EP Hedengang in 2002 in cooperation with Sombre Records . Nortt describes the band biography as "pretty simple." The project began one evening with the creation of the first song fragments. The only goal was “to create dark art.” At the same time, it was clear to him from the start that the project would be a one-man band and that it would always remain as such. However, this idea did not rule out collaborations in other projects. In 1997 he joined Apollyon as a guitarist and bassist. However, Apollyon soon disbanded.
Some of the Nortt demo tapes were later reissued by different labels. So brought Total Holocaust Records 2004 Red Stream 2007 Graven out again and Possession Productions 2003 Mournful Monuments 1998-2002 a compilation of demo recordings and pieces of the EP. The re-release of Graven was described on Deadtide as a successful introduction to Nortt's music, as Black Metal "could hardly get better". In the same year as the compilation Mournful Monuments 1998-2002 , the album Gudsforladt was released on Sombre Records, which Nortt first brought international attention. The album was highly acclaimed as a hybrid of Funeral Doom and Black Metal and was called "one of the best Black Doom albums ever released".
In 2004 a split EP with Xasthur was released via Total Holocaust Records and Southern Lord , which contained the entire Hedengang EP. In cooperation with Possession Productions, the second studio album Ligfærd was released in 2005 . The album was rated “by far one of the darkest and most life-denying albums of all time” as well as the creative highlight of the project.
Two years after Ligfærd , the third album Galgenfrist followed on Avantgarde Music . Hangover was perceived as a polarizing work. As such, reviewers rated the album as music that serves an emotional experience rather than technical perfection. So the quality of the music lives “from the atmosphere as well as the feelings and the melancholy that the listener experiences in the meantime”, provided that the recipient gets involved with it.
In the following years there were no new publications. The well-known albums have since been reissued several times. So appeared Ligfærd among others 2006 on Viva Hate Records and 2010 via Cyclone Empire . In March 2008, Nortt announced work on another studio album. However, it was not published for a long period of time. In December 2017, Nortt stated that the long hiatus was related to creative and personal decisions. The first recordings for an album that followed on from the gallows period were made shortly after its release and sounded too similar for Nortt to this album. Another factor was the increasing emergence of similar music groups, which for him were characterized by better overall sound and better production.
In February 2017 Nortt presented the first song lyrics on its website. In October, the release was announced for December of the same year. As announced, Endeligt was released in December 2017 via Avantgarde Music. The album was received differently by reviewers. While some reviewers contrasted the album with the early work and criticized the increasing abandonment of raw production and musical black metal elements, others emphasized a successful minimalism or saw in Endeligt a continuation of the previous line of development of the project. Jon Rosenthal calls the album in a review for Invisible Oranges "a reduction of the otherwise more complex music to a somewhat more compact one, which nevertheless conveys the same spirit". Despite this change, the music remained true to the self-chosen genre name Pure Depressive Black Funeral Doom .
Work and effect
Songwriting
According to Norrt's own statements, new pieces only record after nightfall. A changed perception and the right atmosphere are important. This would make it easier for him to “feel whether the musical effect is present or not.” He would find himself in an “empty and trance-like” state.
Reception and influences
Nortt is commonly referred to as a mixture of Funeral Doom and Black Metal, Black Doom and sometimes referred to as Funeral Black Metal. Disrespectfully, the music was even dubbed “Funeral Doom with war paint”. Nortt himself uses different variations of the term Funeral Black Metal such as "Pure Depressive Black Funeral Doom Metal" or "Black Funeral Doom" to categorize the music. Due to the ideology and the musical orientation, Nortt is also assigned to the spectrum of Depressive Black Metal.
Nortt names Burzum , Aghast and Thergothon as the most important factors influencing the style of the project . These bands “laid the direct musical foundation for NORTT”, while many other groups have inspired him over the years. On Metalunderground the music is compared with the early work of the drone doom group Sunn O))) as well as with the funeral doom band Celestiial , and described as an amalgam of the groups Ahab and Xasthur. On Chronicles of Chaos, on the other hand, the music is viewed as an extreme modification and slowdown of the early Burzum, with Nortt achieving a slowdown of Black Metal, which would be analogous to that of Doom Metal through Skepticism . The music is also given a high proportion of the dark ambient . Here the music is compared with that of lust murder .
style
Nortt's music is primarily considered to be very slow. The guitar playing can hardly be assessed as riffing , rather individual chords can be made out. On the website Chronicles of Chaos these chords are named as a central element next to the plaintive singing and described as "creeping". On Deadtide.com, guitar playing is described as "such a sonorous hum of slow riffs" that you can perceive it "only as a constantly static beat", while the web magazine Myrrthronth on "[ü] overdriven [...], echoing and rolling riffs “Indicates. Playing the drums is usually described as particularly slow. It consistently presents "as a poorly programmed pulse, the same slow, trance-like game of kick and hi-hat ". There is also an "almost continuous piano and organ background", which is mostly perceived as "sad". The keyboard game underlines the music throughout and supports the desired atmosphere. The singing is referred to as wailing and lamenting and is compared with that of Marco Kehren for Deinonychus . Nortts singing is sometimes described as very varied, as it combines "impressively different vocal styles such as [...] breathing, a kind of whine and whisper". According to the Chronicles of Chaos, however, typical vocals, even the wheezing common for Black Metal, cannot be made out.
Discography
- 1997: Nattenale (demo, self-published; 2019 re-release via GS Productions )
- 1998: Døden ... (demo, self-published; 2019 re-release via GS Productions)
- 1999: Graven (demo, self-published)
- 2002: Hedengang (EP, Sombre Records)
- 2003: Gudsforladt (album, Sombre Records)
- 2003: Mournful Monuments 1998–2002 (Compilation, Possession Productions)
- 2004: Hedengang / A Curse for the Lifeless (Split EP with Xasthur, Total Holocaust Records / Southern Lord)
- 2005: Ligfærd (Album, Possession Productions)
- 2007: gallows period (album, avant-garde music)
- 2017: Endeligt (Album, Avantgarde Music)
Web links
- Official website
- Nortt at Discogs (English)
- Nortt at Doom-Metal.com
Individual evidence
- ^ A b EF: Nortt Interview. The Gauntlet, accessed March 11, 2017 .
- ^ A b Scott Wilson: Introduction to Melancology . In: Scott Wilson (Ed.): Melancology . Black Metal Theory and Ecology. Zero Books, Winchester 2014, pp. 5 - 25, here p. 13 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g Nortt Interview. metal.de, accessed on March 13, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Brandon Stosuy: Show No Mercy. Pitchfork, accessed March 13, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Shadow: Nortt. Harm Magazine, accessed March 13, 2017 .
- ^ EF: Nortt Interview. The Gauntlet, accessed March 11, 2017 : “I definitely consider myself as a black metal artist. A true black metal artist is an individual who worship Satan through performing metal (among other ways). "
- ↑ a b c d e f Justin S .: Nortt: Graven. (No longer available online.) Deadtide, archived from the original on March 18, 2017 ; accessed on March 11, 2017 .
- ↑ ktb: Nortt: Gudsforladt. Metalcrypt, accessed March 11, 2017 .
- ^ A b Bastian: Nortt: Ligfærd. Metal.de, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Key: Nortt: gallows period. Metalunderground, accessed March 13, 2017 .
- ↑ Grimulfr: Nortt: gallows period. Teeth of the Divine, accessed March 13, 2017 .
- ^ Nortt: Gallows period. Metal.de, accessed on March 13, 2017 .
- ^ A b Jon Rosenthal: Nortt's Long-Awaited Return. Invisible Oranges, accessed December 22, 2017 .
- ^ Nortt: A Dying Art - the Art of Dying. (No longer available online.) Nortt, archived from the original on March 11, 2017 ; accessed on March 13, 2017 .
- ^ Cullen Toner: Nortt: Endeligt. Death Metal Underground, accessed December 22, 2017 .
- ↑ Admin: Nortt: Endeligt. (No longer available online.) The Monolith, archived from the original on December 21, 2017 ; accessed on December 22, 2017 .
- ↑ blizzard: Nortt: Endeligt. Raven Report, accessed December 22, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f psephos, sic, Erik: Nortt: Gudsforladt. Myrrthronth, accessed March 13, 2017 .
- ^ Xasthur / Nortt. Harm Magazine, accessed March 13, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Pedro Azevedo: Nortt: Gudsforladt. Chronicles of Chaos, accessed March 13, 2017 .