Filthy Music Review - 'Tsjuder: Desert Northern Hell'

Tsjuder – Desert Northern Hell (2013)

Season of Mist

Review by Jude Felton

If you were to imagine the perfect Norwegian Black Metal album, you could do a lot worse than to conjure up Desert Northern Hell. This beast epitomizes all that you could want from a BM album; bleak, brutal, raw and decidedly evil, it is quite the behemoth. Originally released back in 2004, this is the third album from Tsjuder and it has just been re-released by Season of Mist. Rather than any sort of cynical cash-in though, this edition also comes complete with 4 bonus live tracks, which were recorded in 2001, and the big addition is the inclusion of the complete Norwegian Apocalypse DVD. Result.

Desert Northern Hell is an album that doesn’t mess about; it’s an evil affair right from the start. Malignant Coronation gets things off to a furious start, and it never really lets up from there on in. The terrific production allows all elements of the music to shine through, with the guitars being especially razor-like, as they spit out their riffs.

Vocally you aren’t going to get anything groundbreaking, but the venom in which the lyrics are spat out is hard to dismiss. All being said Nag’s vocals fit the music perfectly.

As for individual tunes on the album, my favorite is probably the epic 11 plus minute assault of Morbid Lust; it’s quite simply a sonic barrage that is remorseless in its attack. Aside from the 9 songs that make up the album itself, there are the four live tracks at the end (Primeval Fear, Daemon’s Journey, Beyond the Grave and The Gate of Nanna), and whilst they are suitably aggressive the production is what it is, and they came across as a little muddy to me. Still, they are raw and really bring across the live sound well.

Overall, Desert Northern Hell is an essential Black Metal album. It manages to capture the old school Black Metal sound, of the early 90s’ whilst still sounding as fresh as the day it was first recorded. This is a no frills, and no compromise, slab of Black Metal that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Track listing
1. Malignant Coronation
2. Ghoul
3. Possessed
4. Lord of Swords
5. Helvete
6. Mouth of Madness
7. Unholy Paragon
8. Sacrifice
9. Morbid Lust
10. Primeval Fear (live)
11. Daemons Journey (live)
12. Beyond the Grave (live)
13. The Gate of Nanna (live)

Desert Northern Hell is available now and is reelased by Season of Mist on CD and Vinyl.