Nahvalr - "Nahvalr"
[audio:Nahvalr - Swallower of Bile.mp3, Nahvalr - Black Elk Speaks, Chokes, and Dies.mp3|titles=Swallower of Bile,Black Elk Speaks, Chokes, and Dies|artists=Nahvalr,Nahvalr]
Nahvalr is Open-Source Black Metal. What does that mean? It means using the internet, using the solitude and separation caused by home recording and digital distribution, to bring together sounds, songs, and lyrics from dozens of artists, each working in complete ignorance of the other.
Collected, edited, and added to by Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga (of Have A Nice Life), Nahvalr evolved from dozens of unconnected sound files into a shrieking whirlwind of noise, blasphemy, distortion, reverb, and evil. Distortion and noise are used as intruments; cacophany gives way to quiet ambience, ambience gives way to black-metal pounding and screaming, screaming gives way to mumbled singing and lo-fi buzz.
I mean, there’s buzz, and then there’s buzz; Nahvalr takes the tropes of the genre, the fuzz, the disturbing noises, the high whining riffs and blast-beat drums, and turns them up. It breaks my speakers. Loudness is the medium; distortion is the message. Both the music and the way in which it was recorded form a statement about the world, especially the modern world, the disconnected world.
Each song takes its assembled parts and creates something more; something no one could have created on their own, a piece unique to the digital anonymity we live with. Nahvalr makes technology terrifying.
Reviews
“What’s most amazing about this album is it’s cohesiveness and attention to sound. Even though many of this album’s collaborators never met in person for recording, mixing, or writing, it still sounds as if Nahvalr is one band in one room with one clear idea. Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga have managed to guide a plethora of ideas from a multitude of places into a neat, tidy pile of epically harsh sounds. And that’s nothing to wave your battle axe at.” – Anthony Fantano, The Needle Drop
“Music this experimental, haunting and visceral demonstrates the often neglected potential the Internet has for collaborative projects. It may be overlong in some segments, but the dark energy within Nahvalr is impossible to ignore and shake off, making it a masterpiece of devastatingly bleak reflection. I can only hope that projects like Nahvalr, with all their promise and dynamism, will continue to take shape and flourish in our digital culture.” – The Rock Blogger“I found myself coming back to Nahvalr, searching for that depth, striving to find those little production details that define the album’s soundscapes. Nahvalr is an album that has me hooked despite my inability to point out any one section I like. Like Rick, the listener on “Coast to Coast AM” who contributed the Siberian Sound from Hell tape, my feeling with Nahvalr is that I’m being haunted. For that lasting sensation alone, Nahvalr succeeds, even though their production and songwriting may be too dense and oblique for every day listening. Nahvalr is a ghost, always elusive and diaphanous, but always entrancing and interesting.” – Nick Greer, SputnikMusic
“The idea behind this one is truly intriguing. To have several dozen artists working apart from one another and then combining their individual parts into one cohesive album had to have been a daunting challenge. While the songs on Nahvalr tend to have a similar tone and sound, there are moments that separate them from one another that are memorable and unique. Considering how badly this album could have come out sounding, it’s actual presence is impressive and should be in any black metal fan’s library.” – Mouth For War
“Nahvalr is something special. In a somewhat chaotic, primitive and raw way, it gets my attention. Mostly because that is exacly the way Black Metal is suppose to sound like (according to me). Melodies and riffs from bands like Burzum and Velvet Cacoon, and with so many different influences it gets very experimental, which is always welcome. This started as a fun idea, and ended with great results, with sounds from every corner of the world.” – Jonathan Kerighen, Deayed Metal Webzine