Nidsang – Into the Womb of Dissolving Flames Review

Nidsang Into The Womb Of Dissolving Flames 01Wearing down, chafing, scraping, being eaten away and flaying; none of these situations sound particularly pleasant truth be told. But when you apply these same conditions across eight blasphemous anthems of pure black rage, you could very well say that suddenly the tables are turned. What wore you down before now pulls you like a magnet and taunts you to dig deeper into a bands discography. Wow, it feels like a while since I had such a meaty platter of blackened blasphemy to wade through! Nidsang (or as they were previously known, Lammoth) are new to me, but from what I gleam, they’ve been around since 2004 dabbling rather halfheartedly at assembling a notable array of melodic black metal that falls snugly between the distorted realm of Arckanum, the sermonizing of Marduk, Watain’s bloodsoaked warmongering or Ofermod’s bravado – it’s black metal of the variety only the Swedes deliver.

Right from the get-go I sense a degree of hero worship attached to Into the Womb of Dissolving Flames. The album art though notably different, is saturated in a healthy degree of similarity to Watain’s Lawless Darkness and hitting play doesn’t do anything to dispel the sense of familiarity. What cannons out of your speakers with “Black Void Revelations” follows what Watain, Marduk and Ofermod have done before: unsettling intro (in this case the clunking chunky sounds of hellishly heavy machinery) that escalates, rising in intensity, mechanics and volume hitting a wall of guitars that closely resembles the unmitigated violence of say Watain’s “De Profundis.”

Nidsang favor the brutal, full-force approach, punching you in the gut over and over again with running blast beats and obsessive trem picking. Their assaults are direct, dense and sharply delivered. Nidsang’s bombasity offers very little in the way of the reprieves or the space that I enjoy in Marduk or Ofermod’s sound, except for a few light, but persistently sure-footed melodies lurking in “Black Void Revelations” and “The Gathering Shadows” and the near glacial drumming that creeps up on you in “Layil” and “Veneration Of The Fiery Blood.”

Amducious handles the narrations (and guitars along with Blodshird) and his breathy croak hits you hardest and with a just the right level of roaring unease in “Layil” and its follower “Veneration Of The Fiery Blood.” These tracks feature the most diversity, elevating them to high points of the album.

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Outside of the prickle of predictability, bloating is the biggest affliction from which the album suffers. Nidsang limited the amount of filler and cutting-room scraps which pleases me, but unlike Marduk and Watain, instead of keeping their anthems short and brutal, they have a tendency to overstay their welcome and you’re plagued with the urge to hit skip before the bitter end closes in on you. I wasn’t the least bit surprised in discovering that Nidsang recorded and mastered the album at Necromorbus Studio, the same studio responsible for Watain’s platter of badassery – Into the Womb of Dissolving Flames has captured all the warmth and clarity I’d associate with Watain’s work and for a relatively unknown band I’d say they’re on the right track.

Nidsang and Into the Womb of Dissolving Flames have captured my attention and just like Marduk’s Serpent Sermon, the more I play the album the more it digs its melodic hooks into me. That said, I’m anxious to hear a whole lot more of Nidsang’s individuality breaking out on the next album. A worthy blackened excursion indeed.


Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Pulverised Records
Websites: Facebook.com/NidsangOfficial
Release Dates: Out Worldwide: 07.21.2014

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