Daagh - Daagh (ЕР)

Here's a tough and harsh debut recording by Norwegian atmospheric BM band Daagh - why it needs to be so modest as to be called "EP", I'll never be able to figure out. There's nothing to be modest about with this EP! It kicks off to a great start with abrasive wall-of-noise guitar riffs, brisk percussion (oh all right, it's one of those brittle-sounding drum machine things) and ice demon vocals straight out of the lowest, coldest, blackest depths of Hell. With such a harsh opening track, you know the band is going to be uncompromising and intense in style and approach.

Second track - all tracks are just numbered - takes the recording to another level with a more distinct melodic approach that verges on the shoegazey and the melancholy. Again the sound is dense and scourging but this time the drumming has more energy (even if the sound is more muted than robust) and changes in the track's key and sighing keyboard wash bring more sadness. At this point, listeners are probably expecting much more but Daagh stick resolutely to generating more of that dense and caustic grinding melodic BM with an emphasis on sharp and cutting tremolo riffs, mournful tunes that shift the music towards a depressive shoegaze direction, shrieking vocals and cold atmosphere. As the album progresses, the mood becomes more desperate and the drumming more energetic and even frantic.

There are some very good, even very pop-friendly riffs and melodies here, and the vocals are more anguished than you might expect from an ice demon stuck in the deepest catacomb in Hades. Guitars work very hard indeed to create and build a huge wall of noisy sound and there is occasional lead guitar soloing. My main gripe is the flippy drumming which doesn't suit the music at all. Some listeners may guess from the synth drumming - it's so much at odds with the music - that Daagh is a solo project in search of musicians to help flesh out the music and make it even more solid and aggressive. Apart from this, the EP makes a good impression with a cold, harsh, implacable style of fusion atmospheric BM / blackgaze.