Snogg - Qivitoq (2016)

A weird sort of mixture of black and death metal from Slovenia, this duo created not one, but two EP releases last year. To be honest, I don't know why they even bothered to split them up as there was enough music on both the earlier released Snogg EP and this one to release as a full-length album. Perhaps the rest of the music wasn't quite finished yet, but I do very much hate the idea of being nickel and dimed for another half an hour of music. In any case, the four tracks that we receive here are quite interesting.

The disc starts out with an odd sort of static and keyboards, later heading into familiar black metal landscapes and even progressing right into death metal mayhem. When we arrive at “Nun Attack” we find that we're getting more of a noise approach, not uncommon to the atmosphere albums that I also review here alongside the metal numbers. It's good to hear a good mix of both, and frankly rarely happens. I will say that it is a bit peculiar when we are getting essentially raw scowls mixed in with noise in a way that does not come off like other noise or industrial recordings, but those sectons eventually see a transference into familiar black metal landscapes as the listen continues. These gentlemen also like to take us up into space with their music, as occurs later via the keyboard and rhythm sections in “In Death, Erection!” (Don't think too much about that title, please.) The last track here sounds like the kind of metaphsyical occult rantings I'd remember from early Killing Joke, but it works well with the background music and brings out that authentic occult feel. Later the track turns into something a bit more black metal, which is undoubtedly raw, but nevertheless an exciting listen. I love the amount of progressive elements here, reminding me of some of the mid-era works from Enslaved (Isa and Ruun in particular) and will also add that these progressive bits are splotched throughout the album, so there's plenty of enjoyment for fans of that kind of work as well. I still have no idea what the shave buzzer and rooster crows towards the end of the record are supposed to symbolize, unless it's the band's idea of a joke (referencing a shaved rooster) but it's also here that I would have felt the band's namesake track (Snogg (28:00) could have fit rather nicely, rather than it having been put on a separate EP.

In any case, if you're looking for something very different, I have a feeling that Qivitoq and the earlier released EP will be right up your alley. Again, they should have been packaged as one single recording, but what can you do – right? I'll have to reiterate that the recording quality here can still be a little more raw than some of us would like, but it definitely fits the gritty nature of the genre. Worth checking out, if you're up for the experiment. Not your father's black metal album, that's for sure.

(4 Tracks, 28:00)

7/10