Noxagt - The Iron Point
(Load)
When one thinks of heavy music, viola perhaps isn't the first instrument that comes to mind. Admittedly, the drums and bass of Norway's Noxagt provide much of the trio's heaviness, but Nils Egra's viola does its share of the work, too. Having crossed the Atlantic last year and released their debut, Turning it Down Since 2001 on Load, Noxagt have returned from their Nordic home of Stavanger (if not in person, than at least on records) with a set of new songs that continue on the path begun by their brutal debut.
Churning, frenzied, and heavier than thou, Noxagt's second CD, The Iron Point is a series of tightly wound instrumentals (though Erga's grandfather, Hagbard Heien makes a vocal appearance on the traditional "Kling No Klokka") which make up for their somewhat simplistic arrangements with momentum and intensity. Kjetil Brandsdal's lurching bass and baritone guitar riffs are the gargoyles upon the concrete architecture of Jan Christian L Kyvik's drums, creating an imposing juggernaut of a rhythm section. While not as integral to the foundation of Noxagt's songs, Erga's string work is the trio's most atmospheric element, swarming and swooping over his compatriots' thundering clamor. The Iron Point's first four tracks are crafted from the same vein of ore, and by the time "A Blast From the Past" erupts in a short burst of metal (belying, perhaps, a Death Metal past for our protagonists?), the tension that Noxagt have built in impressive. Not restricted to only one musical gear, Noxagt follow these tunes with the more brooding "Thurmaston," the operatic-like traditional piece "Kling No Klokka" before the blast beats of "Svartevatn" incite a return to the maelstrom. "Regions of May," a piece originally performed by Pearls Before Swine in 1967, closes the disc with an almost meditative feel, an interesting choice, as it eschews the band's normal aggression for a more contemplative, though epic, pathos.
The obsidian rock music of The Iron Point takes the heaviness that seems to be ingrained in much of Scandanavia's rock music and focuses it in a different, more streamlined manner, but that makes it no less intense. Noxagt are a tornado of sound, and a group, it seems still growing musically. We can only hope that Load continues to make their records available stateside, so that when the band's full potential is reached, we Americans will get the chance to have our eyebrows seared off, too.
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