Published: March 28, 2015

“The Idea Of North”. Such an eclipsing title ought to command epic music and in this case it does! Canadian duo Norilsk are one of plenty healthy and upcoming formations out of Quebec, creating sordid musical landscapes that manifest towering grooves, epic melodies and desolate, sludgy passages in the space between.

The artwork alone captivates and sends me off to different worlds, while the nine tracks paint brutal themes of an archaic Earth standing at death´s door. At its core this is a Doom/Death Metal album with elaborate expansions. Slow, cruising tempos and classic riffs meets often applied sludgy/post musical arrangements that are put together in these colossal sounding tunes without sounding overblown.

The moods are diverse. “Japetus” has nicely balanced concrete riffs with catchy lead guitar work, on the edge of sounding like a Death´n´Roll wildchild, while the title track brings on full-scale Metal epicness, slow and uptempo. Then you have these bleak wastelands like “La Grande Noirceur” and “Nature Morte” breaking up the powerful sounds adding to the diversity of the album. Grounded but flexible. Vocal patterns are also a highlight, beastly growls counter atmospheric singing, kinda touching upon Epic Doom Metal tones ala Candlemass, although the singing is being used a bit more sparingly.

Norilsk have done a more than adequate job for a debut album, managing to keep things pretty diverse and interesting veering between the classic Doom/Death Metal and the more repugnant sound assets of Sludge Metal while flirting with some lengthy Post Metal ideas. A band to watch out for, definitely.