Slagmaur - Thill Smitts Terror album review

Even taking into consideration the bewildering variety of interpretations that can be found amongst Norwegian black metal, Slagmaur remain a unique and bewildering proposition. Their otherness has always been obvious from their general aesthetic, the band mixing elements of fairy tales, nursery rhymes and touches of vaudevillian malice into their image. Even approaching this, their third album, on strictly musical terms, it’s obvious that they continue to revel in their outsider status, the songs maintaining a strange aura, not least in the production, which manages to be at once in your face yet hollow and distant. In some respects, this is the most defining feature, particularly as the songs themselves feature some relatively accessible combinations, even if the big, catchy riffs are subverted by the strangely indistinct layers of fuzz. Given the industrial overtones, hints of groove and mechanized swagger, Red Harvest and Dødheimsgard are perhaps the best points of comparison, if only for the combination of madness and aggression. SOFTWAREmark” gingersoftwareuiphraseguid=“92340672-50a3-462d-abf6-7b79cd0d0e7b” id=“dbbf4d9c-6929-46fa-a3c6-e04d01114a72”>…Terror is a compelling and often unsettling listen.