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Although having written way over a thousand reviews since the beginning of this century, I still remember that terrible album called Servants of Darkness from Nifelheim. True that Black Metal was not my thing back then, but even now, musicians saying the f word to their audience are really not worthy. Regain Records has been putting back to life some earlier Black Metal gems from Gorgoroth, Marduk and the likes. Now they feel like giving those S&M clowns a second life, alas.

I don't find very impressive the fact they had to hire two guitar players to do session work. Those parts, by the way, are just about the only good things to talk about on this disc. The actual band members are not that bad as such. Personally, what I enjoy in Black Metal is the atmosphere, subtle harmonies, ghostly vocals and great musicianship. Well, Nifelheim does not have much of that in their music. This is "in your face", fast, vicious, and repetitive music with a low melodic rate. The fact that some bozo from Slayer Magazine wrote the liner notes in the booklet, claiming this album as: "one of the best debut album ever", is far from being impressive. Their music is not the worst thing I've heard, but since it almost never varies, it makes a 32 minutes album feel longer. This self-titled debut becomes redundant and boring half way through. Track #5, "Sodomize" has its moderate moments, and the guitar playing is pretty good. The closing song, "Die in Fire" is not bad either, though it is a Bathory cover.

This is for diehard fans only. Let's move on to their sophomore effort…