Neithan: Striborg by Australian winter warrior Sin Nanna is a one-man-project which is always rewarded at Lords of Metal with mockery. This is no conspiracy of our editors, yet a mere consequence of the huge untalented quality of this band. Many among our black metal reviewers keep wondering whether Striborg is a well succeeded joke or a real bad band. Nevertheless there are people who like this Striborg, since ‘Black Desolate Winter / Depressive Hibernation’ is a re-release of the in the meanwhile sold-out album from 2005.
Is the sound better than the original? I wouldn’t know, because I don’t waste my money on Striborg releases… The album still contains nine songs and again the sound it comparable to a tin can worker with serious hearing problems. Ambient black metal, far too long-winded and executed without an atmosphere, and too boring to keep one’s attention, at least for longer than one song. Take for instance the semi title track ‘Black Desolate Winter’: simple monotonous drums, a very monotonous riff and a screamer who sounds like severing from serious bowel issues, and all of this packed into an uninspired song of over thirty minutes. Or, as my lovely girlfriend puts it: this is one humongous slush, without characteristic passages? She is right, and it is all saying that a non-expert of this kind of music gets to the core of Striborg right away.
Four intros or ambient passages and five songs and this all for 78 minutes long. The best songs are the depressive and slow Burzum-like ‘Depressive Hibernation‘ and the up-tempo closing Immortal-like ‘In The Gloom Of The Foreboding Night’. These songs raise the score of this album by none less than ten points! But hey, let us be fair: the only use of this re-release is that those who missed out on the first edition can now finally achieve it, although in all honesty I can’t imagine anyone wasting his money on this, especially in these international times of financial crises. Oh well, at least my chief editor has an easy pick for this month’s worst: regarding this Striborg is constant regarding their quality because I would almost rename our "this month’s worst" to the Striborg gallery…
Maak home
Bookmark