With the last of the penitents dwindling and their call to mourn increasingly treacherous another sojourn to the cult’s crypt weighs on each increasingly fragile psyche. The urge to scrape the yellowing decay from sacred bones with rotten teeth and recite their song of death through leathered throat proves too compelling as Odense, Denmark-based solo black/funeral doom metal project NORTT returns for a fifth wave of cold and unmoving death-worship, readied to scale its temple and collapse at the pinnacle. An act of awe in embodiment of solitudinous spirit in decline, an act which yet plays out in geologic time beyond the half-life all but the most petrified bone ‘Dødssang‘ is a curse beyond the dried corpse, beyond the flesh in its representation of post-tragedian nihil. Not a grand gestured command of the mass follower’s ear but a desolated dirge of misery free from pulverizing loudness this experience reflects the bleak and minimal stature of funeral doom without reducing its efficacy, a captivating mourn which blackened trait only enhances.

Nortt formed circa 1995 by way of musician Nortt who has long been the sole directive and performer on each of their recordings since. Three demos and three albums make up the initial ‘classic’ period of the band and their first twelve or so years of development into influential mastery. On the first several demos the artists focus was on creating layers of guitar which were both atmospheric and textural with a cleaner tone delineating the melodic voicing of funeral doom metal into enduring conversation which the sparking black metal guitar hung in the air like burnt flesh. The third demo CD (‘Graven‘, 1999) is probably the most evolved of those earlier releases as a natural point of readiness for the debut LP (‘Gudsforladt‘, 2003) that’d followed. By then keyboards, even more thunderous layers of crackling guitars and croaking vocals made for a decidedly active, densely set vision of funeral doom that’d never ceased in its writhing. The piano used on songs like “Gravfred” could be perceived as the artist’s vision maturing, their hand taking to the piano for its effect and voice instead of cleaner or psychedelic guitar tones for leading muse. For my own taste the real high point of the original run from Nortt (1997-2007) is ‘Ligfærd‘ (2005) per its cavernous roaring sound and restless longform pieces, it’d achieved a certain ghastly, agitated presence which I’m not sure the next couple of records intended to re-address at all. Around this time I believe Nortt had joined the live line-up of Denial of God and ceased any new release schedule beyond 2007.

Exactly ten years beyond the release of the black ambient drenched ‘Galgenfrist‘ Nortt would return with the deeply charred, surreal glow of ‘Endeligt‘ (2017) wherein all points of their sound had been changed by time. The throat rattling sickness of the vocals, the broken amped guitar tone in shambles, and such had given way to more of a piano driven sense of movement, gilded by distorted guitars and slow-trod drums. The signature work was there but their sound had undergone a serious revision that’d been built around an unsettling flow from piece to piece. As some might recall that album had been a last minute, late year release that I’d reviewed favorably back in the very infancy of the site. This puts into perspective how much can go into the years between, creating more understanding for what ‘Endeligt‘ was after ten years and what ‘Dødssang‘ is about seven years later. Here today the dust choked solitude of Nortt‘s resting place is awakened by wind-carried cursed speech once more, further desiccated in its grand piano enthroned solemnity.

The full listen of ‘Dødssang‘ feels like a proper descent beyond ‘Endeligt‘, weilding a similar melodic voice with an even more deliberate pace set behind its movement. Listening to each LP back-to-back this time around I’d found the space Nortt inhabits here is contained but vaulted in its ambiance and even more solitary in feeling as a result. We begin with a hymn to death as a brief intro and then an angel of death heralded within the sermon that is “Dødsengel” the intended desolation here comes with the sustain of the rhythm guitars hitting in waves and the wooden bap of the snare making a march of it. The scream of otherworldly feedback in de-harmonizing layers (around ~3:57 minutes in) is easily one of the more characterizing moments on the whole deal and that technique only briefly reappears throughout the full listen.

As is the case with each Nortt record beyond the first demo (or two) the middle section of the album is its most “earned” placement for the listener’s immersion as the slow waft towards the centre uncovers its ancient profundity, or, peaking action. The face-clawing fixation to be found here beyond the crippling dread that settles into chest via “Alt er Tomhed” is without a doubt the swooning gothic metal hook at the heart of “Ensomhed”. Choral keys crown the viola-worthy triad of phrases that shape this defeated melody, an intensely wilted movement that is something standout, slightly new feeling in Nortt‘s hand but also classic when we consider this glowing type of morbidity could be found in similarly depressive and fixative pieces circa 1999 even.

‘Dødssang‘ should’ve reached its most suffocating point of despondency by the sixth track though there is no reasonable relief here for the close-eared listener. Following that enlivening, distressed hook with the piano-lead simplicity of “Ihukom Natten” and its seething slow-ranted step into the finality of closer “Bøn til døden” is a cruelest droning sleep, less a peaking statement and more a grind down into the dirt as we sink into some of the simpler, more repetitious rhythmic arrangements on the album. The stone-upon-stone sledge of the gloom-hammer which presses us through Side B is effective enough though the nuance involved is incredibly direct, easily grasped and not a thousand-layered.

While I’d not been expecting a return to the inadvisable, damaged sound design of the early 2000’s this recording still has a rotten homebrewed timbre to its drum hits and a broken ring to the distorted guitars even if they’re backgrounded into a supportive role for the majority of the album. The feedback from the ringing leads on the album opener (see also: “Alt er tomhed”) and various other details along the way do well to ensure there is some noisome zombification, a weirding true funeral doom geist to this album. A necessary “gothic” intensity thankfully further upholds the authentic foothold of funeral doom in Nortt‘s sound, this is probably the “glue” that secures all of these finer components within a relatively minimal form. As much admiration as I could spew upon traits of sound design and style… the substance of ‘Dødssang‘ is the feeling achieved between crisply distorted guitar tones and the oft-leading weave of the piano/keyboard work, traits which’ve tightened their icy grip beyond 2017 and with them bring a cold and depressive distance to the artists voice. Per my own experience the piano outshines the vocal work as a tonal driver and central spectacle, a consistent carrier of miserable death-spells which we can trace all the way back to the impetus of their woeful legacy.

While I’d like to visit the pinnacle of this lone temple of Nortt more often, every half-decade deserves it’s own funeral at least, the ritual herein proves worthy of bone-gnawing and chanting devotion by way of its focus on embodying its despondent mood and cursed spirit. Thirty years beyond their conception no other band manifests black metal spiritus within the authentic extremity of classic funeral doom feeling like, or as well as, Nortt and I say that not for lack of options. Of course I am already a fan, and I think newcomers are best served starting back in 1999 or so, I’d recommend ‘Dødssang‘ to the general funeral doom metal fandom and not just those interested in “blackened” niche. A high recommendation.

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