Naglfar - Pariah (Century Media Records) - Back
The modern black metal sound of Naglfar is once again driven into the music of the band’s new effort. Now its grace is on “Pariah,” their 4th full-length. I would characterize their music similar to Dimmu Borgir, Dissection and Dark Funeral. You can thank their dual shredding black metal guitarists for that along with the lethal blast of drums, and overall dark atmosphere. The songs carry energy throughout, but there are a few breaks that cut that flow. Generally, the music grabs your attention…particularly the catchy main riffs. New to the band on this album is Kristoffer Olivius, who took over on vocals for Jens Ryden due to job issues. The vocals came out well. He knows now to use ferocious black metal screams. These nine tracks, which really are only eight songs, are a pretty consistent effort. Nothing lags behind the rest for the whole thirty-nine minutes.

Rating: 87

Reviewed By: Jeffrey D. Adkins
Second Review:
Formed in Sweden in 1992, Naglfar has five full-length releases total since then. 'Pariah' is their fourth full-length. They've gone through quite a few lineup changes since their first coming together as an official band. Four members are featured on this one. Their latest release entitled 'Harvest' is the only other album that I own out of their entire discography.

Naglfar's genre falls under the category of melodic black metal. Andreas Nilsson is on lead/rhythm guitars, Marcus Norman also is on lead/rhythm guitars, Kristoffer "Wrath" Olivius plays bass/vocals and Mattias Grahn is on drums. On this release, Wrath plays bass and sings. Morgon Lie replaces Wrath on bass for their 'Harvest' album.

In terms of the sound, I'd say that the quality is only mediocre. It's difficult to hear all of the instruments in unison with one another. The rhythm guitars however are decent from what I am able to hear of them. The tempos are quite fast for the most part but there are sections where they are slower paced. All in all, the time signatures guitar-wise are quite fast tremolo picking and drum beats are blasts galore.

Guitar-wise, the melodies are quite good. They have a unique sound to them from what I can amass. If they had a better production, I would probably give this album a higher rating. Wrath's vocal outputs are pretty much the same for the whole album. His voice features higher-end screaming with not much variety.

Wrath mostly sings about evil and darkness. It fits well with the music. On their limited edition digipack, there is a cover song entitled "The Calling Blaze" which is originally sung by Throne Of Ahaz. In addition, their Japanese release features a song entitled "Skulls" (overall source: http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=77021).

Again, if Naglfar's sound quality was better on this album, I would give it a higher rating. I'm not saying that it's a complete waste to purchase. But as I stated before, it's difficult to hear the guitar riffs as well as the music altogether. Their latest release I think is a much better output. 'Pariah' does still have some key melodies however. The band lineup shows talent and Wrath's vocals are good.

Some tracks to hear which are my favorites include "A Swarm Of Plagues", "Revelations Carved In Flesh", "None Shall Be Spared" and "The Perpetual Horrors." The total length for the release clocks in at almost 40 minutes. You can view their web site at http://www.naglfar.net/.

Rating: 75

Reviewed By: Death8699