ambient / post rock / black metal / doom
You might be thinking, "what a strange title for an atmospheric metal album". 'Apples' is indeed not an everyday title but it does cover the load quite well, especially if you know what lies behind it. It was an apple that made Isaac Newton discover his laws of gravity. That Isaac Newton, along with his fellow scientists Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley are being tributed here. Yes, this album is a tribute to science, but not your everyday Western science, the one that merely analizes. This album is dedicated to the spiritual aspect of science, where scholars investigate the natural world to come closer to a god, not to further distance themselves from one.
You can read all about that in the accompanying text on bandcamp. For now, let's dive into the music because that is as unusual as it is interesting. Nagaarum is an Hungarian one-man project, for this album aided by Betty V. on female vocals and Roland Szabó who does the narrations. The music is an eclectic mix of ambient, metal, post rock and noise. The latter makes up the majority of the opening track, 'Middle Ages', reminding me of acts like Gjöll or Genocide Organ. Nagaarum quite often descends into the power noise pit but for the most part he seems to be rooted in the metal scene.
'Isaac' comes up with the guitars, drums and everything else that nudges the sound towards the doom metal scene. The cold, harsh atmosphere of black metal is present as well, but mostly without the screeching vocals. Those first appear in 'Prism', a strange blackened noise rock tune that seems to be influenced by Vinterriket and The Melvins alike. 'Robert' might be one of the most black metal related tracks here, fast, relentless and driving on piercing riffs. This chaotic tune brings back memories of those old 'World Domination' compilation series by Osmose Records, but again in a headstrong and unusual manner.
Then there are the gloomy ambient passages, eerie field recordings and meandering soundscapes like 'Hermit'. These don't just function as intros or intermezzos. They complete the overall concept. 'Nullius in Verba' seamlessly follows with a deep drone and a funeral doom atmosphere before melodic doom metal once again takes over in 'Edmond'. Needless to say perhaps, but this album comes with heaps of variation. It also comes with enough atypical elements to drag this album into the avant-garde corners of the metal scene. Negură Bunget came to mind a few times, which I guess is not a bad reference.
In all, this surely is an interesting album. Fans of ambient black metal can easily trust this one to satisfy but I'm not sure who else to recommend this to. I'm not sure if die-hard black metal fans, or even doomers, will be happy with the synth passages like the militaristic 'Revelations'. But perhaps those people should give this album a chance too. It's not a perfect extreme metal record but it definitely is a unique and compelling addition to your collection. So check it out, you'd be pleasantly surprised more than a few times.
Serge
You can read all about that in the accompanying text on bandcamp. For now, let's dive into the music because that is as unusual as it is interesting. Nagaarum is an Hungarian one-man project, for this album aided by Betty V. on female vocals and Roland Szabó who does the narrations. The music is an eclectic mix of ambient, metal, post rock and noise. The latter makes up the majority of the opening track, 'Middle Ages', reminding me of acts like Gjöll or Genocide Organ. Nagaarum quite often descends into the power noise pit but for the most part he seems to be rooted in the metal scene.
'Isaac' comes up with the guitars, drums and everything else that nudges the sound towards the doom metal scene. The cold, harsh atmosphere of black metal is present as well, but mostly without the screeching vocals. Those first appear in 'Prism', a strange blackened noise rock tune that seems to be influenced by Vinterriket and The Melvins alike. 'Robert' might be one of the most black metal related tracks here, fast, relentless and driving on piercing riffs. This chaotic tune brings back memories of those old 'World Domination' compilation series by Osmose Records, but again in a headstrong and unusual manner.
Then there are the gloomy ambient passages, eerie field recordings and meandering soundscapes like 'Hermit'. These don't just function as intros or intermezzos. They complete the overall concept. 'Nullius in Verba' seamlessly follows with a deep drone and a funeral doom atmosphere before melodic doom metal once again takes over in 'Edmond'. Needless to say perhaps, but this album comes with heaps of variation. It also comes with enough atypical elements to drag this album into the avant-garde corners of the metal scene. Negură Bunget came to mind a few times, which I guess is not a bad reference.
In all, this surely is an interesting album. Fans of ambient black metal can easily trust this one to satisfy but I'm not sure who else to recommend this to. I'm not sure if die-hard black metal fans, or even doomers, will be happy with the synth passages like the militaristic 'Revelations'. But perhaps those people should give this album a chance too. It's not a perfect extreme metal record but it definitely is a unique and compelling addition to your collection. So check it out, you'd be pleasantly surprised more than a few times.
Serge
