Albanach ar Dheis and Nihtwintre are black metal bands hailing from Canada and the US respectively, each of them with a few releases to their name since they started out in 2016 (Albanach ar Dheis) and 2015 (Nihtwintre). Come 2019 and they decided to release a split album together, and this unnamed production was released through US label Epicurus Records in the middle of May.
Split albums are by and large a good way in which to combine and expand the respective fan bases of the contributing bands, as well as an effective manner in which to spread the cost of releasing material. I would assume that both of these will apply in this case, as neither band appears to have a solid fan base to draw upon, and both bands do share a few features that would make one band interesting for the other.
That being said, I do find Albanach ar Dheis to be the most interesting of these two bands. Their compositions comes across as both fairly advanced and well developed, displaying a solid understanding of song structures and arrangements. The riffs are mainly kept careful and subtle, rising to sharp crispness only on select occasions, while a sharp guitar solo overlay combined with a softer keyboard presence is the more dominant aspect of this band’s overall sound. Effective use of light toned vocals to contrast the more typical black metal croak expands the canvas a bit, as does the inclusion of occasional softer passages with folk music orientations. That the final of the songs they contribute to this split release ends with a bagpipe strikes me as quite appropriate. A niche band as far as black metal is concerned, but a high quality one at that in my opinion.
Nihtwintre shares the trait of having a sharp guitar solo overlay as the dominant feature in their songs, but the totality in which it is placed is somewhat different. There are no keyboards present to soften the cutting guitar solo sounds for starters, which in itself makes the music of this band much more of an acquired taste. The song structure and arrangements also resides on a different plane, where a word like primitive comes to mind, especially as far as the drums are concerned. A more raw variety of atmospheric laden black metal one might say, and that the songs by and large are more repetitive and one-dimensional is an undeniable fact.
Both Albanach ar Dheis and Nihtwintre strikes me as being niche bands, but my impression is that the former has a much greater potential than the latter as far as expanding the fan base is concerned. If atmospheric laden black metal with folk music touches, fairly sophisticated arrangements and developed song structures sounds interesting, Albanach ar Dheis is a band you might want to inspect. If a more primal and repetitive variety of atmospheric black metal strikes you as an interesting notion, Nihtwintre is a band that merits a check.
My rating: 60/100
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Track list:
1. Albanach ar Dheis – Mons Grapius
2. Albanach ar Dheis – Caledonia
3. Nihtwintre – Nightwraith of the Wintercrypt
4. Nihtwintre – The Tragic Path of the Necromancer
5. Nihtwintre – The Withering Grove
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Links:
https://www.facebook.com/nihtwintre/
https://www.facebook.com/Albanachardheis/
https://www.facebook.com/EpicurusRecords/
