Originally written by Erik Thomas.
Synopsis:
Finally, a new, young black metal band from Sweden that lives up to the country’s legacy of evil, grim, yet melodic and seething black metal.
Review:
There’s something about Nidsang that I really like. It’s not that they are particularly original, as they ply a sort of Marduk, Setherial, Dark Funeral form of blazing black metal, but there’s just something that I’m coming back to.
Maybe it’s the killer guitar tone (that at times, reminded me a little of Borknagar’s first album) mixed with a prominent rhythm section. Maybe it’s the mix of blistering drums and feral, razor sharp riffs and controlled yet ferocious songwriting. Maybe it’s just that everything comes together for 10 tracks of perfectly executed black metal nihilism. I don’t know, but either way, I’ve been given The Mark of Death a lot of listens.
Trust me, there’s nothing you have not heard before if you have even a remote interest in scorching Scandinavian black metal, but the youthful, yet tempered vigor with which Nidsang performs, and their level of perfectly delivered songwriting, make The Mark of Death an album that fans of the above bands needs. From opener “Crush the Masses” through the utterly blistering “Dawn of a New Era,” surprisingly melodic “Atra Mars,” and stern march of “Glorious Destruction,” the album is no frills blackened fury. There’s even a mid album interlude, “Vindar fran Helvetet” and cover of VON’s “Lamb”, making The Mark of Death viscerally entertaining, if familiar.
A point of reference might be Watain as far as unoriginal yet masterfully competent delivery of a tried and true genre that’s pulse quickening and grimace inducing in all of its corpse painted, Satan worshiping silliness.
