Norna - Norna (Album Review)

Release Date: August 30th 2024. Record Label: Pelagic Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Norna: Tracklisting

1.Samsara

2.For Fear of Coming

3.Ghost 

4.Shine By Its Own Light

5.Shadow Works

6.The Sleep

Members

Tomas Liljedahl - Vocals & guitars

Christophe Macquat - Guitars, bass & moog

Marc Theurillat - Drums & samples

Review

Sludge/Post-Metallers Norna new self-titled album is an all out assault on the senses with their dirge ridden and brutal style of Sludge Metal and Post Metal which does show some great signs of uplifting and melodic Post-Rock along the way. Norna consists of the following members Tomas Liljedahl (Breach, The Old Wind) and Christophe Macquat and Marc Theurillat (both of instrumental metallers Ølten). 

The record has been produced by Magnus Lindberg from Cult Of Luna and the record has quite an ice cold and methodical approach within the heavy progressive moments that appear on the album. With similar sounds to bands such as YOB, CONAN, Neurosis and Primitive Man being played at various stages, Norna are quite unforgiving with their down-tuned creative vision which is helped by stunning Ambient Metal textures held within the sublime opening tracks of Samsara and For Fear Of Coming. 

Norna perhaps play a classic style of Post-Metal that harks back to the early to mid 2000’s when ISIS (The Band), Cult Of Luna, Neurosis and The Ocean Collective were developing their own style of Post-Metal that allowed that genre to be called “THINKING MAN’S METAL”. Norna blends sonic landscapes, dark Psychedelic pastures and bleak soundbytes which is all held together by a truly APOCALYPTIC sounding journey.

The music is overlapped with a despairing DRONE METAL aspect which allows Norna to generate a whirlwind style of pummeling grooves and extended instrumental Post-Metal beats. The songwriting is another strong point from this album with the later stages showcasing similar ideas to bands such as YOB on the brilliantly poetic tracks:Ghost and Shine By Its Own Light.

Norna still develop their own exciting style of music where they show a deft modern touch especially within the haunting Post-Doom flavours of the whole record. This album does have a complex nd progressive attitude but Norna are absolute masters of delivering a highly evolved style of riff centric style of Post-Metal with a huge layer of gloomy based NOISE with that Atmospheric Sludge movement that fully takes over on the later stages of the record. 

The final two tracks of Shadow Works and The Sleep continue with the harsh and cold-hearted style of Post-Metal with some moments of Ambient Post-Rock being played along the way. The epic vocal performance from Tomas Liljedahl has quite an emotional depth and range to them where these tracks alone contain his finest vocal moments. Tomas’s vocals maybe harsh, brooding and unforgiving but I felt a deep personal connection to what Tomas was singing. The instrumental sounds were superb as well with Norna delivering some of the heaviest parts on the entire album.

This album is the perfect example of how to deliver a devastating and emotionally charged record that is brutally honest and be classed as one of the most original Post-Metal releases of 2024. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Pelagic Records for the promo.

Norna will be released on CD/DD/Vinyl via Pelagic Records from Friday August 30th 2024.

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

INTERNATIONAL HEAVYWEIGHTS NORNA UNLEASH BRUTAL NEW SINGLE ‘SHADOW WORKS’

Credit: Hughes de Castillo

Apocalyptic international power-trio Norna have shared new single ‘Shadow Works’, taken from their self-titled second album, set for release on 30th August, 2024 through Berlin’s Pelagic Records.

Hailing in parts from the icy Swedish northlands and the glacial expanse of the Swiss Alps and named after Norse goddesses who wove the very tapestry of fate underneath the mythical World Tree, Norna are heavy in every sense of the word. Their debut album, 2021’s ‘Star is way way is Eye’ was saturated filth; uncompromising, unrelenting ugliness. However, their eponymous sophomore offering digs its claws deeper into the dirt. Sharpened, hungry and desperate, born of the moment and yet years in the making; ‘Norna’ liberates an old rage that has been suppressed for far too long.

Despite only forming in 2020, the three pillars of Norna bring decades of experience with them. Consisting of Swedish post-hardcore pioneer Tomas Liljedahl (Breach, The Old Wind) and Swiss stalwarts Christophe Macquat and Marc Theurillat (both of instrumental juggernaut Ølten), Norna came together as a perfect storm of abrasive influences, harnessed by friend and producer Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna), to create something new, limitless and horrifyingly heavy.

Rather than binding themselves from the outset to any structure or semblance of a song, Norna instead carve their mammoth riffs from a roiling mass of distortion and chaos suspended in the clouds (with Dropbox being the band’s platform of choice); each member remotely adds oppressive layer upon layer over time before the band gather together in the studio to harness only the most vicious combinations. Latest single ‘Shadow Works’ is potent proof of this caustic process; alive with a seething, deep-seated fury as angular, syncopated riffs spiral deliriously above pounding, pummelling drums whilst Liljedahl’s harrowing vocal delivery desperately searches for catharsis amidst the carnage.

Norna’s inimitable, introspective heaviness lays bare the primal rage buried within every one of us. This honesty, the acceptance that deep down we’re all hiding something hideous, goes a long way to explaining why, as discordant, disturbing and disgusting as this album is, it’s simply impossible to stay away.

‘Norna’ is out 30th August, 2024 - "Shadow Works’ is out today.

Norna on ‘Shadow Works’:

“Shadow Works will submerge you to the deepest part of decadent darkness. We will all pass through there at some point during our illusionary path through the suffering world.”

Links

Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram

Thanks to Pelagic Records for all of the details.