Nargaroth

Rasluka Part 1

No Colours 2004

Hmmmmm….What to say about Nargaroth's Rasluka Part 1.  My guess is that Kanwulf had been listening to a lot of Burzum and Transilvanian Hunger before he recorded this Cd.  Rasluka Part 1 is a four song album that almost qualifies an EP.  It opens with a track that reminds me of a funeral and wedding march blended together.  Then the song Rasluka carries this musical theme onward as the main guitar riff.  Then it opens into a slow Burzum inspired atmospheric riff that actually hold a lot of appeal to me with its sweeping majesty.  Then it closes out with a ringing bell that drones on for around 40 seconds or so.  Wo Die Kraniche Ziehn starts off with some sort of pseudo folk ballad that reminds me of watching an Irish village movie and then it kicks into some blasting Transilvanian Hunger worship.  But it doesn't hold my attention as much as I thought it would.  I guess the riff just needs to be more interesting.  Tranen Eines Mannes is in the same vein but is slightly more interesting.  TH worship all over again.  Heh heh.  The production is what you would expect from a Tr00 band with its hollow and trebly guitars and thumping muffled drums.  The main cover art is exactly the same as Part 2.   Inside the booklet Kanwulf belts out some sort of rant about how he makes music he wants and won't keep putting out Herbstleyd over and over again.  I guess he is feeling the same pressure that everyone put on Darkthrone to keep putting out Transilvanian Hunger over and over again.  I just don't understand why the fans of this style of music can't let a band develop a little and anything that isn't their favorite release from their band automatically is boring or should be discounted.  I know this isn't really the place for this but that kind of attitude just pisses me off to no end.  Back to the album.  This is typical Nargaroth and if you liked Nargaroth before you should still like it now.  But to me this is somehow not as emotionally moving and interesting as Rasluka Part 2.  I am not sure why but I guess the riffs are just not as impressive.  But I still like this album and Kanwulf has my continued support for now.