public

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: NAG Invite You To Hang With The “Black Wizards”

Make sure you’ve got extra layers on today, this next one is a frosty bitch of a blackened beast. Blasting waves of crusty hardcore from their blackgrind weather device,

5 years ago

Make sure you’ve got extra layers on today, this next one is a frosty bitch of a blackened beast. Blasting waves of crusty hardcore from their blackgrind weather device, Norway’s NAG should fit right in with all the blustery, brutal content that these cold months bring. From their forthcoming Fysisk Format release Nagged To Death (great name), we at Heavy Blog are chuffed as all frozen fuck to premiere “Black Wizards”, one of the records most delicately balanced numbers; you won’t find a more perfect combination of d-beat violence and black metal oppression on either side of the Atlantic. On with the snow!

The dirty riff that opens “Black Wizards” will get fans of Trap Them off their feet and, by the time the track rings out, they’ll be swinging from chandeliers or exposed cabling – whichever is closest to hand.  You’ll feel the frost in your teeth first, then your ears. Then you’ll die of exposure if you haven’t taken my advice and wrapped up. I did warn you. The track switches seamlessly from blasting barrages of icy black metal and a head-swinging hardcore groove that has no business being as catchy as it is. It’s not derivative of Mayhem or Emperor, that’s not even up for debate. Follow the declaration of “six, six, six” into the tail-end of the track and enjoy the gorgeous, choral vocals as they come crashing to a violent stop. It’s a brief journey, but you’ll be absolutely fucked by the end of it.

The tones on this record are wild, especially the cavernous vocals. They have this fantastically engineered delay effect that fills any gaps that the all-seeing, all-destroying instruments leave in their wake. “Black Wizards” does a fantastic job of showing of all of these tricks, building to the aforementioned finalé where you might think you’re picking up signals from a church choir broadcast. I’ve been blessed with the privilege of having heard Nagged To Death in full and the record is stuffed full of these wonderful little bits of ingenuity. All the more impressive when you consider that NAG are a trio, I think you’ll agree.

Make sure you hit up Fysisk Format to preorder the record which releases on November 23rd. The label just put out one of my favourite blackenedsomethingorother releases of the year in ATTAN‘s End of. and now NAG have been thrust right into my already bulging year-end briefcase. Let’s break the shitty stereotype that Norway is just for the kvlt as fvck – Norway is crusty, embrace the festering fuzz with us!

Matt MacLennan

Published 5 years ago