Neraines - Fenrir Prowling

With the monstrous and majestic Fenrir Prowling, we hear Neraines emerge with another epic masterpiece of atmospheric, narrative, melodic black metal. Taking heed from the promise shown by Phantom, Burzum and Graveland, the Thulean mystical metal master Neraines expands on the idea of wandering melodies in black metal, first introduced on their previous opus, the mighty Yggdrasil, by aggressively ramping up the music, making longer melodies of interchangeable parts, and dropping vocals to a background instrument whose rhythmic component complements that of the guitars.

Much of the philosophy of the past can be discerned from this style of black metal. While each instrument takes an important role, none will step into the spotlight, because the music is formed from the interaction of each and not the instrument in itself, making context, atmosphere and role more important than flashy technique, quirky gimmick or out-of-place dramatics. This gives the music of Neraines, as with that of Helgrind, a constantly building, quiet dynamic that infiltrates consciousness and creates a perception of atmospheric beauty in which repeated themes emerge in layers to silhouette a multitude of ideas that are never fully expressed, but always present.

Each song on the album is a series of melodies which develop into a larger, dominant, atmospheric theme, which narrates a journey, much in the way Burzum or Tolkien unspun their dark tales of foreboding apocalypse. Where Fenrir Prowling most diverges from the standard extreme metal template, though, is in the way by which Neraines finds beauty within darkness, as all good black metal should.

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