Review from Crown of Viserys

Posted by Nick Skog on Thursday, April 11, 2013 Under: Album reviews
From: Crown of Viserys
Published: April 3, 2013
Original Link

Netra originally hailed from Kemper, France, and from that base of operations released a pair of demos that caught Nick Skog’s attention. Skog contacted Netra and released the debut album, Mélancolie Urbaine in late 2010 on his label Hypnotic Dirge Records. Since then, Netra has moved from France to Norway, and in mid-2012 the follow-up to Mélancolie Urbaine was released, Sørbyen.

Once again the beautiful structures of jazz and trip-hop that Netra creates are blended with intensely thought out black metal; genres that (until Mélancolie Urbaine was released) I never thought would exist together. There is a depressing quality to the music, sadness and a longing for something better, and it is portrayed through genuinely soul-filled instrumentation and vocals that feel like they belong to the music, and are born from it.

With Sørbyen there is less black metal than the previous album, but truthfully it is not missed at all, as the trip-hop, house elements, and just plain rock make up for any lack of metallic headbanging. This ensures that when the black metal hits, it hits hard.

There is an immense amount of growth with Netra on Sørbyen, as a songwriter and it seems as a person. I can’t wait to hear what Netra will be releasing next, and until then I’ll be playing this often.

Rating: 7/10

In : Album reviews 


Tags: netra  sørbyen  sorbyen  atmospheric  experimental  black metal  trip-hop  jazz  blues  manes  germ  burzum 

                       NETRA - SØRBYEN 


Released: September 29, 2012
1000 Copies
Alternative Black Metal/Trip-hop