Naðra - “Allir Vegir Til Glötunar”
https://nadra.bandcamp.com/
Rating: 7.5/10
Naðra doesn’t believe in wasting time: “Fjallið” flies at the listener like a lit stick of dynamite. It hurls blast beats, maniacal roars, pounding black metal riffs and a careening guitar solo within the first five seconds alone, and the pace doesn’t lets up from there to the end of the track. It’s so stunning a statement of intent that it’s still hard for me to distinguish where it ends and “Sál,” begins, which really works to that song’s favor since it doesn’t touch its predecessor, despite featuring many of the same elements at a more traditional black metal pace. It’s over the course the album’s eleven-minute monster “Falið” that the album’s strengths and weaknesses really begin to polarize, and well before “Fallið,” the listener has probably made up his or her mind about this young Icelandic outfit’s debut, Allir Vegir Til Glötunar.
There’s ambition to spare. Supposedly bringing together members of Misþyrming and Carpe Noctum, two big names in Iceland’s black metal scene which is currently one of the hottest in metal, a lot of it gets through: despite its length, there are enough changes of tone, tempo, and color to keep “Falið” from ever becoming anything less than epic. Much of the first half is dedicated to a build-up comprised of those haunting melodies that can only exist within the scuzzy dungeons of black metal before a (somewhat predictable) tremolo riff cuts in like a knife, signalling a return to the ballistics of “Fjallið” and “Sál.” Close to the eight-minute mark, some vaguely Gregorian moans bleed into the mix, drifting in and out until the song’s lurching climax. The violin that opens follow-up track “Sár” teases a continuation of this aesthetic before some smashing drumwork pulls the rug out from under the listener. It’s back to the hurtling pace of the album’s first half from here to the end.
In many ways, the album’s last two tracks are its best written, since by this point, Naðra have proven themselves. They’ve got both poles of their sound—blistering and lumbering—established, and spend “Sár” and “Fallið” experimenting with how close they can bring the two together without awkwardly collapsing the song around any one element. These songs also tend to draw out the group’s melodic side amid all the turbulence. Fortunately, with a priority in the mix, the drums are there to keep things on track. From the opening seconds of Allir Vegir Til Glötunar, the drumming and the vocals are shoved into the listener’s face close enough to crack a few teeth, while the guitars twist and wallop a little further in the background. It’s actually a very atmospheric decision that provides more space and texture than one might think—just check the last couple of minutes of “Fallið” as those distant chants make a return, blending and mixing with a looping solo, crashing cymbals, and vocalist Ö’s fervent wails.
Ö is at once one of the album’s selling points and one of its biggest detractions. There’s little evidence of technique to his style, as his contributions seem to be straight-from-the-gut screams, grunts, groans, shouts, and other primal vociferations. To some degree, he reminds me both of Mayhem’s Attila circa De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and So Hideous’s Brandon Cruz while not sounding particularly like either. It’s simply the sheer variety of sounds he produces that recalls the former, and his intensity the latter. Unfortunately—and bluntly—he doesn’t seem to know when to shut up. Those incendiary shrieks over that ripping guitar solo on the first track are awe-inspiring, but he has worn the listener down not a third of the way into “Falið” with increasingly tone-deaf screams and grunts that plow right on through the track’s gradual ratcheting-down. He shares this trait with Attila, too.
Depending on how well you can stomach these intrusions and the inescapable feeling that, despite the band’s exuberance in playing them, Allir Vegir Til Glötunar is built (cleverly!) of all the same parts that have been knocking around since the second and third waves of black metal, Naðra’s debut is worth your time. Even if you find yourself a little discouraged, there’s no harm in taking a listen—this is, after all, really well-performed. All five tracks are available for free streaming and name-your-price download on Bandcamp, and for those not familiar with or looking for an entry point into the upper echelons of Iceland’s rising black metal scene, Naðra may actually be a better place to start than either of its parent bands.
- Brian L.
https://nadra.bandcamp.com/
Rating: 7.5/10
Naðra doesn’t believe in wasting time: “Fjallið” flies at the listener like a lit stick of dynamite. It hurls blast beats, maniacal roars, pounding black metal riffs and a careening guitar solo within the first five seconds alone, and the pace doesn’t lets up from there to the end of the track. It’s so stunning a statement of intent that it’s still hard for me to distinguish where it ends and “Sál,” begins, which really works to that song’s favor since it doesn’t touch its predecessor, despite featuring many of the same elements at a more traditional black metal pace. It’s over the course the album’s eleven-minute monster “Falið” that the album’s strengths and weaknesses really begin to polarize, and well before “Fallið,” the listener has probably made up his or her mind about this young Icelandic outfit’s debut, Allir Vegir Til Glötunar.
There’s ambition to spare. Supposedly bringing together members of Misþyrming and Carpe Noctum, two big names in Iceland’s black metal scene which is currently one of the hottest in metal, a lot of it gets through: despite its length, there are enough changes of tone, tempo, and color to keep “Falið” from ever becoming anything less than epic. Much of the first half is dedicated to a build-up comprised of those haunting melodies that can only exist within the scuzzy dungeons of black metal before a (somewhat predictable) tremolo riff cuts in like a knife, signalling a return to the ballistics of “Fjallið” and “Sál.” Close to the eight-minute mark, some vaguely Gregorian moans bleed into the mix, drifting in and out until the song’s lurching climax. The violin that opens follow-up track “Sár” teases a continuation of this aesthetic before some smashing drumwork pulls the rug out from under the listener. It’s back to the hurtling pace of the album’s first half from here to the end.
In many ways, the album’s last two tracks are its best written, since by this point, Naðra have proven themselves. They’ve got both poles of their sound—blistering and lumbering—established, and spend “Sár” and “Fallið” experimenting with how close they can bring the two together without awkwardly collapsing the song around any one element. These songs also tend to draw out the group’s melodic side amid all the turbulence. Fortunately, with a priority in the mix, the drums are there to keep things on track. From the opening seconds of Allir Vegir Til Glötunar, the drumming and the vocals are shoved into the listener’s face close enough to crack a few teeth, while the guitars twist and wallop a little further in the background. It’s actually a very atmospheric decision that provides more space and texture than one might think—just check the last couple of minutes of “Fallið” as those distant chants make a return, blending and mixing with a looping solo, crashing cymbals, and vocalist Ö’s fervent wails.
Ö is at once one of the album’s selling points and one of its biggest detractions. There’s little evidence of technique to his style, as his contributions seem to be straight-from-the-gut screams, grunts, groans, shouts, and other primal vociferations. To some degree, he reminds me both of Mayhem’s Attila circa De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas and So Hideous’s Brandon Cruz while not sounding particularly like either. It’s simply the sheer variety of sounds he produces that recalls the former, and his intensity the latter. Unfortunately—and bluntly—he doesn’t seem to know when to shut up. Those incendiary shrieks over that ripping guitar solo on the first track are awe-inspiring, but he has worn the listener down not a third of the way into “Falið” with increasingly tone-deaf screams and grunts that plow right on through the track’s gradual ratcheting-down. He shares this trait with Attila, too.
Depending on how well you can stomach these intrusions and the inescapable feeling that, despite the band’s exuberance in playing them, Allir Vegir Til Glötunar is built (cleverly!) of all the same parts that have been knocking around since the second and third waves of black metal, Naðra’s debut is worth your time. Even if you find yourself a little discouraged, there’s no harm in taking a listen—this is, after all, really well-performed. All five tracks are available for free streaming and name-your-price download on Bandcamp, and for those not familiar with or looking for an entry point into the upper echelons of Iceland’s rising black metal scene, Naðra may actually be a better place to start than either of its parent bands.
- Brian L.
Archival details
- Original URL
- https://metallifestyle.weebly.com/metal-lifestyle/review-nara-allir-vegir-til-glotunar
- Recovery source
- live-weebly
- Recovery date
- 2026-07-22
- Stewardship polish
- 2026-07-22
- Preservation status
- restored
- Missing assets
- None recorded
Preserved by Bloodsoaked Media · The Archives