As one of the most popular genres of extreme metal, it's not unusual for generic death-metal bands to be a dime-a-dozen. Nerrus Kor, however, manage to step over and avoid the mundanity trap nicely, and manage to produce death-metal which is old-school, but at the same time isn't too derivative, unimaginative or bland; While the first thing I noticed was a similarity with the abrasive and roaring style of Vader, and such like bands, it's also safe to say that Nerrus Kor have plenty of merit on their own, certainly not "a generic death-metal band". The dual vocal approach, while not uncommon, came across as quite novel; certainly giving the music some character and variety, swinging between powerful growls and higher, slightly black-metal influenced shrieks, all of this driven by rock-solid riffs, with a sense of groove, but also a powerful, flesh-tearing wall-of-noise feel which gives the band's sound an undeniable intensity and fury, and a thick drum sound, and clearly talented drummer, which renders the percussion more akin to a merciless barrage than a rhythm-provider, although, it must be said, it does a good job of that too. In fact, the title of the EP itself has strong connotations of the sound which the album has; Frenzied, Savage, and Inhumane. I always enjoy it when albums sound the way that their titles suggest.
Of the local (by which I mean roughly the whole of Scotland) death-metal bands I've listened to, I wouldn't be surprised if Nerrus Kor were one of the most crushingly energetic. Once again akin to Vader, the music feels immensely, explosively physical, as well as simply heavy; the thick, solid clunks of the drums sound just plain powerful, and the whole soundscape which the band conjure has a really kinetic, movement-based feel to it; the riffs seem to oscillate, pulsate and practically reek of the beauty, spilled beer and slightly maniacal warrior-spirit of a pit. The tempos often dance chaotically, but at the same time manage to be memorable, with a rigid and sound structure; blast-beats arise manically before subsiding into a familiar riff, making for quite a multi-dimensional sound, but also one which manages to sound cohesive and tangible. To top things off, the EP manages to feel somewhat longer than it's literal running-length; almost certainly through being scintillating, not mundane; certainly, if the band keep up output of this caliber, I won't be surprised if they attain international recognition.
I wasn't too sure what I was going to get when I was asked to have a listen to this; I'd certainly heard of the band, but I hadn't gone so far to check them out; At present, I would look at my past self, and look to all of you, and conclude by saying "Listen to Nerrus Kor. They won't disappoint."
This is 8/10.
Links:
Nerrus Kor on Facebook
Nerrus Kor on Myspace
Nerrus Kor on Metal Archives
