Taake - Nattestid Ser Porten Vid (1999)

By the end of the 90's the once proud and elite Norwegian black metal scene had long past its peak and once godlike purveyors of sonic extremism, for instance; Emperor, Satyricon, Darkthrone and Mayhem had lost their creativity, direction and were set to release some of the weakest material of their careers, of which none of these examples have redeemed themselves upon either.

Originally operating under the Thule moniker from '93-'94, by the will of Ørjan "Hoest" Stedjeberg, Taake (Norwegian for Fog) was born in '95 quickly followed by a demo and an EP the following year. Recorded in the famous Grieghallen studios between 1997-98, with Pytten as producer, 'Nattestid Ser Porten Vid' was the first Taake full-length album and remains as a pillar of excellence within the Norwegian Black Metal scene.

As soon as Nattestid Ser Porten Vid and as each of its seven untitled tracks pour into your ears you'll feel your very soul being assaulted by this wave of blizzardly cold tremolo picked riffs that although harsh in character still have an underlying and catchy melody within them. The very first riff upon pressing play is proof enough of that as it makes me shiver just about every time I hear it, but curiously enough as the record progresses you'll notice the riffs occasionally have a folk-ish sentiment to them as well, which brings me back to the early Ulver and Satyricon albums as well some of the riffs are totally Celtic Frost headbanging licks too. The outcome is an authentic assailment of chaotic chainsawy fuzzed up classic Norwegian Black Metal riffs with memorable majestic melodies and rocking sensibilities all wrapped up with a total underground and classic black metal production.

Hoest's vocal attack also stands as one of the finest every laid down as he absolutely breaths pure raging emotion into everyone of his vile shrieks and screams. Sometimes sounding like a twisted ghoul exhumed from the earth that's hellbent for revenge and at other times his voice gives off a sorrowful character, plus I've always been a fan of his grunts too. Needless to really say, they are excellent. Drummer/bassist Frostein S. Arctander occasionally adds some cleanly sung operatic vocals which give the album a more epic character, but they are rarely used, which is kind of shame, because it would have been interesting if he would have backed up Hoest during his most maniacal moments. His drumming is also mostly relentless blasting, but the rest of the kit doesn't go unnoticed either. Also with the production being so harsh you wouldn't expect the bass to be present, but underneath all the chaos you surely can hear his heavy bass picking, which only adds to this albums faultlessness.

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes new black metal listeners make is buying into the new groups and forgetting the founders. Personally I was just getting into black metal when this album came out and I can say first hand that it got me on the right path even if it didn't click immediately as I probably favored the more melodic and symphonic bands initially. However I never gave up on the record and its remained with me for many years now and is an absolute favorite. As you may know Taake still exists today and has released three more albums, several EPs/splits and frankly speaking if you are going to go with a modern black metal band, then choose Taake because perhaps they'll enlighten you to what true black metal is all about.