Satyricon – Nemesis Divina (2016) reissue

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Turning 20 years old, today we have a remastered version of Satyricon’s masterpiece “Nemesis Divina”. Considered one of the most important Black Metal albums of the history of the genre, this album marked a unique contrast between the traditional Trve Norwegian Black Metal and more refined, melodic, and lush interpretations of the genre. Many people hated the band after this ‘soft’ release, but it is as crushing as any other BM at the time. Sounding a bit better than before, Napalm Records brings back tons of memories with the re-release of this album.

As the opener “The Dawn of a New Age” delivers the line ‘This is Armageddon’, chills instantly run over our spines. The music is raw and brutal while still being elegant and better directed than other releases of the time. The novelty of this album was the mixture of slower tempos and more melodic elements as we can hear as the opener winds down and “Forhekset” rolls in. The atmospheric use of synths also adds depth to the music, while causing confusion and anger to fans of the genre’s traditional rawness.

Hands down one of the top 5 best songs of all times follows with the title “Mother North”, a song that still gives me the chills as the first one plays. Perfectly creating a very sinister atmosphere, this track is hauntingly amazing. We also have to admit that the video featuring the sweet and innocent Monica Bråten frolicking around the woods with Satyr, Frost and Kveldulv, helped engrave this song in our brain, after probably listening to it over and over.

After such a devastating piece, the band delivers the relatively straightforward “Du Som Hater Gud” and the very melodic “Immortality Passion”. While not playing at Immortal-esque speeds, Frost delivers a very tight and intricate drumming performance in this release. Filled with playful riffs, the album title track nicely bleeds into the imposing atmospheric closer “Transcendental Requiem of Slaves”.

Like it or don’t, “Nemesis Divina” is definitely one the most influential albums of Black Metal in history because it showed bands that many additional elements could be combined and other tempos could be used to play Black Metal and still be awesome at it. If you never listened to this album, drop everything you are doing and get it, you won’t regret owning a piece of BM history.

Band: Satyricon Album: Nemesis Divina

Label: Napalm Records

Release: May 20th, 2016

Official Site Social Media

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Norway

Rating: 95/100
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