#noxagt

Top 20: Tørrfall — Tørrfall

Now this one, I do know why I dug it out of the promo pile. Noxagt's Turning It Down Since 2001 is a record I loved instantly, and while I've written about the trio's very different later work, seeing that new trio Tørrfall involved one Nils Erga was enough to earn it a listen. Erga's viola was the most distinctive thing to me about Turning It Down Since 2001, and even though he's not playing it here I had surprisingly high expectations for this new project.

Noxagt, "A COLLEAGUE CAME TO YOUR HOUSE AND PUNCHED YOU. YOUR ROOM BECAME VERY MESSY." from Brutage (2014)

Eight years removed from their last outing, Noxagt have returned and the results are downright transcendental. Brutage eschews the comparatively accessible noise rock of The Iron Point and the self-titled LP in favor of long-form compositions that lean heavily on repeated structures and subtle shifts. It results in what is probably the heaviest Noxagt record, wherein characteristic burly basslines coexist decidedly un-peacefully with sheets of cymbal crashes and guitar feedback. The guitar in "A COLLEAGUE CAME TO YOUR HOUSE AND PUNCHED YOU. YOUR ROOM BECAME VERY MESSY." floats above the locked groove, eventually becoming pervasive enough to impart anxiety and dread on the rest of the players; the car goes off the cliff and disappears in midair. There are no crescendos or fiery finishes, just unnerving hints at something going awry hidden in the pummeling onslaught. Noxagt have morphed into something far more menacing and powerful on Brutage, the band bulldozing through these fully-capitalized four tracks (and one short intro) with calculated tectonic movements, not blinking once. A truly intimidating return for a now peerless outfit.

<a href="http://dridmachinerecords.bandcamp.com/album/noxagt-brutage" data-mce-href="http://dridmachinerecords.bandcamp.com/album/noxagt-brutage">NOXAGT: Brutage by Drid Machine</a>

Norway's Noxagt are a power trio in the purest sense of the term; however else their music has changed, or they have, they remain committed to figuring out just how heavy their particular kind of instrumental music can get. When they started releasing records that meant Kjetil Brandsdal’s bass and Jan Christian Kyvik’s drums were augmented by Nils Erga’s viola on 2003’s Turning it Down Since 2001 (the year Brandsdal began Noxagt as a solo project) and 2004’s The Iron Point; between those records and their last released through Load Records, 2006’s self-titled album, Erga and his very distinctive sound were replaced by Anders Hana on baritone guitar.

Out of all their records, that still commendable effort is the only one where the band didn’t quite seem to know how to go for the jugular; Erga’s sawing, blaring viola had been such a prominent part of what made Noxagt’s early work so great (especially the debut, maybe the best metal record made with strings as a part of the main band until recent SubRosa records) that switching to a more conventional set up resulted in something that felt a lot harder to pick out of a lineup.