The legend of the Night Raven is the theme for this new record from original Death and Massacre vocalist Kam Lee and Heads for the Dead’s Jonny Pettersen, and Nattravnen takes that story written by Lee and tells us through the medium of sinister, dark death metal. ‘Kult of the Raven’ is out in December through Transcending Obscurity.
Opener ‘The Night of the Raven’ is brutal, fast and chunky as hell. There is a morose atmosphere permeating each track, but this is much more doomy than black metal. Ghostly synths seep into the crush of ‘Return to Nevermore’, while the endless battering from ‘Suicidum, the Seductress of Death’ leaves you feeling bruised and exhilirated. The vocal performance from Kam is, as always, astonishing; showcasing an impressive ability to retain clarity without losing any of his trademark gurgling roar. Petterson’s riffing and songwriting is nothing short of sublime, creating both the devastation and the misery soaked, like in ‘Corvus Corax Crown’ and ‘The Anger of Despair When Coping With Your Death’ respectively.
‘Kult of the Raven’ is a superb, thick and dense death metal album that ladles plenty of sinister mannerisms on top of a huge pile of awesome riffs. Gloomy and violent, Nattravnen have tapped into the part of you that really wishes Paradise Lost and Amorphis would forget the last 18 or so years had happened. This is dark, destructive and utterly absorbing.
https://www.facebook.com/Nattravnenbandofficial/
https://nattravnen.bandcamp.com/
The Killchain 