Natur - Head Of Death

Natur rehash a somewhat less preferred side of traditional heavy metal, simply projecting the dry, semi-rambunctious aesthetics of the olden gods Maiden, Priest, Raven, Tygers of Pan-Tang, and so on. I suppose compared to the retro, almost modern sounding streams of traditional heavy metal bands this is a trend that strikes less often, though personally, I’ve never thought of the NWOBHM as genre that should be rehashed directly infatuating with its traits, but rather a strong sauce to decorate other gimmicks of influences with. Natur know the basics of the formula, and their fervour for old school metal is also a notable aspect, but eschewing anything innovative or not being able to opt from many choices will not get them much far. I like this, but it simply cannot surpass the boundaries of originality.

The main problem about Natur is that the music they produce is somewhat empty and dry. Somehow, they’ve perfected the classic chug-laden gallops, and the strict manner of riffs, with nice bluesy solos flying here and there, but the in-depth segments of the formula are amiss. Natur likes makes use of the improved amplification, swelling the tone of the guitar to a notch chunkier than usual, which is good, because now the riffs can characterize themselves by punctuating each not exuberantly, and other than that, semi-melodious intervals also tend to take the listener of sojourns of nostalgia, and thus, the drums play genuinely simple beats, but they have an earthen feel to them which makes the nostalgic trip even more evocative. These are all plus points for the band’s performance, but after a single spin, the blandness of it will become almost palpable and perhaps the blandest performance here are the vocals; the vocalist is obstinate to remain at the same tone for almost the entire duration of the album, singing very casually in a strict, almost stiff manner, and after some time their outshined delivery begins to cause umbrage.

‘’Goblin Shark’’ and ‘’Decion’’ are my favourite tracks here; they flaunt the classic image the entire album projects just as well as any other song on the album, but they’ve got a reasonable and almost quality essence, especially on the chorus section of ‘’Decion’’, where the album arguably reaches its climax with a semi-epic, sing-along structure. The band is probably much more potent than they show on this album, but for some reason they’ve released merely a tidbit of what they can pen, leaving the inmost essence of the album mostly empty, simple and predictable. It’s an enjoyable album for only when you’re at a rigorous state, and while it still had its ephemeral moments of glimmering quality, it didn’t make my blood run rapidly through my veins and I seldom felt excitement. It’s 1980 all over again, sadly, though, the majority of metal bands have thirty years on Natur, and the band will need to step up their game by a huge pace if they ever want to catch up after their efforts on ‘’Head Of Death’’.

Highlights:

Goblin Shark

Decion

The Messenger

Rating: 77%