Perhaps the first thing to observe about Nazghor’s new album Death’s Withered Chant is that it’s this Swedish band’s fifth full-length in four years, and like the band’s last three albums it’s roughly an hour long. With so much music being released in such a comparatively brief time, one might wonder how good it could be. We’re bringing you today a full stream of the album, so you’ll have a chance to decide that for yourselves — but I think it’s fantastic.

The songwriting is highly accomplished, with every song carrying evocative, frequently majestic melodies that beckon the listener back, and stylistically, the music should appeal to a wide range of fans. It includes the kind of aggressive melodic riffing that should appeal to fans of Scandinavian death metal and the kind of epic, sweeping melodies that should attract adherents of Northern European pagan metal, while preserving the truly venomous vocals, the infernal atmospherics, and the blood-freezing bursts of savagery that are rooted in black metal. Continue reading »