Nydvind – Telluria Review
By El Cuervo
There are many heavy metal bands in the world. Intense genre stratification led to lots of musical hopefuls attempting to carve their own path. Despite their best efforts, it’s incredibly rare for a band to do something that hasn’t been done before. Citing a journey through the “raw energy of black metal,” “profound melancholy of doom,” and “organic vitality of folk,” France’s Nydvind are making another such attempt with their fourth album entitled Telluria. This unusual medley and a 20-year history ensured that I didn’t instinctively reject the one sheet’s notion that the group may be pioneering; there aren’t many bands operating in this genre that split 3 sounds. Is Telluria as distinctive as its genre promises?
The Nydvind style isn’t a part of the same scene as the likes of Agalloch, but they capture the earthen feel that such bands exalt. “Dance of the Ages” uses flitting, clean guitar lines and occasional chants to conjure a folksy effect, tied into acoustic guitar passages designed to evoke delicacy. This contrasts with the record’s opening heavy passages that blend trilling blackened guitars with deathly, guttural growls. Likewise, “Heart of the Woods II” opens robustly, with a doomy lick delivered via a shredding tone. The remainder of Telluria sometimes winds and sometimes stomps its way through passages that principally progress through a fusion of black, doom, and death metal. Despite its variety, the core of the music has a feel that won’t be totally unfamiliar to fans of Paradise Lost, but observed through a decidedly blacker lens.
When you first start with Telluria, the multitude of influences in the pot and frequent musical shifts make things interesting. But it’s definitely more ‘interesting’ than ‘exciting.’ Although there’s a lot to listen to when paying close attention, my overall emotional response is an unfazed one. The majority of the album is merely okay. This is undoubtedly compounded by the music switching between varied sounds in an uneventful way. “Heart of the Woods II” proceeds through its doomy opening and a blackened second passage then back again, but each transition simply ceases the prior music and commences the next. There are very few moments of sophistication or drama to signal change to the listener. The over-arching fusion of doom / black / death/folk influences sounds harmonious on first listen, but it’s not nearly as stimulating as it should be.
I find my initial interest thoroughly waned by Telluria’s back half. Ultimately, the inability to generate a visceral emotional response (even a negative one) consigns it to the sizeable heap of forgettable music I’ll not bother returning to. The shuffling, directionless song-writing contributes to my dispirited response. I find the doomy mid-pace passages the dullest of Nydvind’s sounds, and these passages sometimes stretch out over minutes at a time. The songs average 8 minutes, and only one runs for fewer than 7, with another exceeding 10. Only “Into the Pantheon of Absynthia” reaches a climax that’s reasonably satisfying, as it escalates with a crescendo that gets heavier over time. The remainder of the songs don’t justify their duration.
The only complete exception to the commentary I’ve provided above is the title track. Pretty much all the best passages on Telluria are locked within these 9 minutes. From the crunchy, blackened verse with piercing shrieked vocals to the layered leads that harmonize then counter-point, it did what no other track could by demanding my attention. It then proceeded to hold it by featuring the album’s best solo and one of its heaviest passages after its mid-point. And just before that heaviness becomes tiring, the ensuing quietness offers a welcome contrast. “Telluria” still fails to stitch together its varied passages in a subtle or engaging way, but separately they’re best throughout.
Despite the more exceptional moments that form the strongest Nydvind material, the vast majority of Telluria leaves me cold. Beyond those moments, it’s difficult for me to highlight any particular riff or melody as standouts; much bleed together into a grey sludge, even with the diverse influences. There’s the potential for a thought-provoking synthesis of styles here. But while the quintessential 2.0 commits the sin of disappointing its listener, Telluria commits the sin of leaving very little mark at all.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 11 | Format Reviewed: v2 MP3
Label: Malpermesita Records
Website: facebook.com/nydvind
Releases Worldwide: March 21st, 2025
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