Nagelfar - Tech/Extreme Prog

A progressive black metal band from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Nagelfar released three full-length albums, two demos, and two splits before they broke up in 2002. The band was mainly the brainchild of drummer Alexander von Meilenwald and guitarist/bassist Zorn, and broke up when the latter lost interest in continuing the project. Meilenwald has since formed The Ruins of Beverast, which went in a somewhat more ambient direction, while Zorn has since formed Simple Existenz and EgoNoir.

The band's three albums all feature songs with significant prog credentials, but the band's most overtly prog release is undoubtedly their second album, Srontgorrth (Die Macht erfaßte das Meine wie die Angst das Blut der Anderen) (subtitle roughly translates as Power Seized My Blood with the Fear of the Blood of Others), which, like Nocte Obducta's Nektar: Teil 1, is a concept album about the seasons. It also deals with the total solar eclipse of 1999 and has been described by Meilenwald as having a theme of an individual freed from the unconscious and struggling to reclaim the past, understand the present, and look into the future. The album runs for nearly seventy minutes despite containing only five songs. Two of these contain multiple movements, and three of them exceed sixteen minutes (with the longest being over eighteen). The band incorporates plenty of other traditional prog tricks throughout the album's running time, including a motif common to every song on the album and the usual extreme dynamic shifts one would expect from progressive metal. Interestingly, the band did not consider this to be an official album, because three of its songs had been previously released in different versions across the band's first album and two demos. They also cited the works of Enslaved as an influence on this album.

The band's other albums should not be overlooked, however. From Hünengrab im Herbst songs like "Schwanengesang" and "Der Flug des Raben (Ein Jammerschrei in traurig' Nächten)" demonstrate significant investment in the style of prog, and Virus West is nearly as committed to the style as Srontgorrth (though it is somewhat simpler). I particularly recommend the track "Meuterei" from the latter, which I've always thought is what we would get if Ennio Morricone decided to write a progressive black metal song.

The band's other work isn't as committed to progressive black metal as their full-length albums, but it's still interesting for fans of the style. The Ruins of Beverast is also an excellent band, though not as overtly prog as Nagelfar (it still has some elements of the style, but I'm divided as to whether enough prog elements remain in their work to merit suggesting them as an addition. They're still doing concept albums with lengthy songs that abandon chorus/verse/bridge structure, but they're more straightforward and less technical musically). I haven't yet listened to Zorn's post-Nagelfar work, but it's on my list of things to investigate.

Nagelfar should not be confused with the similarly-named Naglfar, a Swedish melodic black metal band. Nagelfar's work has been highly acclaimed in Germany, but the band does not remain as well known outside of German-speaking countries, perhaps due to the band's insistence on recording solely in German. It is telling that the Ruins of Beverast, which records in English, has been significantly more commercially successful worldwide.

Nagelfar's albums on YouTube:

1997 - Hünengrab im Herbst (roughly, Megalithic Grave in Autumn)
1999 - Srontgorrth
2001 - Virus West

As far as I know they do not have a Bandcamp.


Edited by CassandraLeo - June 05 2016 at 14:23