Nortt - Ligfaerd

Circa 2006

Nortt's Ligfaerd is a hollow black hole of despair. Like crawling in a cave in the dark, you see nothing in front of you and then you stumble into a wall or hit your head on a low hanging rock. Much like this cave, Nortt's second full length is deeply seeped with darkness and, for music, it even seems to have a certain moisture to it. Imagine being alone in these dark cavernous depths and hearing the hellish sound of hell's industries of torment and torture.

The production on this album is stagnant. Chords are quickly muffled by the thickness of the production however this works to the advantage of the recording. It offers an atmosphere and allows those feelings to surround you. The pitch blackness of the recording finds and encloses you within its dark walls. Drums sparsely used echo from the depths to finally greet you at the door to hell. Guitars, though also rare are more prevalent than the drums.

The musicianship is simple though exact and does no harm to a recording such as this. I would describe the performance as patient. There is no rush to get to any point. When Nortt, the single man behind this piece, feels like playing, he plays. The patience placed in the songs is the single defining moment of this release and when the time comes, He knows how to invoke feelings of loneliness and depression. The word Ligfaerd, after this release, may come to be synonomous with the words depressing and bleak. Vocals are hidden and esoteric, they come and go smoothly much like time - and pleasure - itself.

The songs are bleak and unwavering in their endless attack of emptiness. This is a case in which the music is not what is played but what is not played. The played components of this song are there for the sole reason of making the emptiness even more empty. Making the blackness blacker. The subtle hints of some sort of melody make you wonder if your imagining them or if they are really there. Realizing that there is something rising from the depths of this musical void a key to enjoying this work of art. The existence of melody in such a hostile aural environment is the true mystery of this album.