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As my introduction to the band, Troll's debut album left a bad taste
in my mouth. Drep de kristne did not make a good impression, at all. Even worse, I knew of Nagash's involvement in
horrible bands like Dimmu Borgir and Covenant, so I completely wrote this project off, for quite some time. Years later, I
was urged to check out the first demo from this Norwegian black metal act, being assured that it was better than what I'd
previously heard. So, with some hesitancy, I gave a listen to the 1995 demo, Trollstorm over Nidingjuv.
The first minute or so of "Når natten endelig er her" only confirmed
my concern that this was to be a waste of time. The synth intro isn't nearly as bad as the goth-like spoken word part that
accompanies it. Nonetheless, from the moment that the guitars erupt from the relative silence, the entire complexion of the
release changes. The first thing worth noting is the superior quality, compared to the first L.P. This was clearly recorded
in a proper studio, instead of in a garage (though how a high school kid could afford this, I cannot say). Rather than the
weak and soft sound of Drep de kristne, here the guitar tone is sharp and helps to give a harsher feel to the music.
Even the mid-paced section of the title track maintains a respectable level of strength, compared to the utterly limp feeling
of the material Troll offered up the following year.
Overall, the material is much more solid than on the full-length.
However, Nagash certainly takes some liberties with the songwriting, heavily influenced by his predecessors in the Norwegian
scene. In particular, Satyricon and Darkthrone seem to have been favourites of his. Of course, no one really comes into a
Norwegian Bback metal release from the mid-'90s expecting too much originality; the template had pretty much been established
by '92/'93. That said, Nagash basically lifted riffs, note-by-note, with no shame whatsoever. While the Satyricon influence
is quite obvious from the intro and the second half of the title track, the riff around the middle of "Over daudens kolde
mark" is really leaning more toward plagiarism. Elsewhere, the inspirations are a bit more general, with cold tremolo riffs
that call to mind classic Mayhem, as well as the vocals that are reminiscent of Ihsahn's early work with Emperor. The compositions
are fairly straightforward, possessing rather natural transitions that flow in a natural manner (as opposed to Satyr's back
and forth, manic songwriting). The CD version, released a year later, contains the most damning evidence of plagiarism. On
"I et hedensk land", this guy just outright lifted Darkthrone riffs (from "Slottet i det fjerne") and passed them off as his
own. Sure, it sounds good, but that is because Fenriz was a master of creating dark and dreary black metal riffs, back then.
In the end, Trollstorm over Nidingjuv stands as the best release
to ever come from Troll, by far. If one can overlook the riff thievery (and to be fair, the worst offense was only a bonus
track on the re-release, not included on the original tape), this isn't a bad recording. It's pretty standard Norwegian black
metal from this period, which was filled with a lot of kids that wanted to follow in the footsteps of the masters. It's certainly
worth fifteen minutes of your time.
(25 Apr. 2017)
After '93/'94, the Norwegian black metal scene became flooded
with imitators that had absolutely no understanding of what they were doing. They sought to join in on something that was
gaining notoriety and yet had nothing original to add. It was practically impossible, as they had no real background in this
music, nor any clue as to the darkness that inspired its very creation in the first place. Bands like Darkthrone and Burzum
were not only influenced by the '80s bands, but they reached back and connected with the primeval darkness that had spawned
this gloomy music in the first place. Unfortunately, those that followed looked no further than their immediate peers and
could only mimic what they heard, lacking any deeper meaning. Such is the case with the band Troll and the debut album, Drep
De Kristne, released in February 1996.
By this point, simply hailing from Norway was reason enough for a band
to be signed and to have the opportunity to release an album. It is amazing how easy to please people can be, sometimes. Perhaps,
the masses have lower expectations, but it is difficult to imagine that anyone could be fooled into thinking that this piece
of trash has any musical value, whatsoever. In doing a little research, many appear to have the opinion that this album is
good just because it is better than those that follow, or that it is more 'pure' than what Nagash later did in his musical
career. The harsh reality is that Troll is a worthless band and was only ever signed to a label due to being Norwegian.
The
music on Drep De Kristne is painfully generic, at best. Nagash listened to quite a lot of Emperor, it would seem. The
guitar riffs are boring and a dime-a-dozen. That hardly matters since the guitars are overpowered by the wretched synth. Troll
really relies on the symphonic element to carry the music, and it shows in the songwriting. The guitar melodies are haphazardly
constructed and do not present a single idea that had not already been explored by the likes of Darkthrone, Emperor and Gorgoroth,
to name a few. Even worse than the below-average compositions is the fact that there is nothing dark about this. It is inconceivable
that a band would proclaim to be part of the black metal movement while failing to create a dark or evil atmosphere for even
a single moment. This was, obviously, lost on this child as he was only concerned with trying to imitate the general style
of his heroes while forgetting that the music should have some sort of substance. Even when you think that Troll may have,
accidentally, slipped a decent song onto the album, things abruptly shift as if there was a conscious effort to avoid doing
anything worthwhile. For example, "Med Vold Skal Takes Kristenliv" begins with some promise and actually has a little bit
of intensity in the opening riff, before halting and turning into another boring throwaway track. Another example of the band's
inconsistency is the song "Trollberg", which is totally ridiculous and tries to add some sort of folk feeling. If the weak
songwriting had not already proven Nagash incapable of conjuring up an atmosphere of darkness, then this goofy song makes
it absolutely clear.
Nothing good can be said of the production of this horrid record. The most dominant aspect of
the sound is the synth. This absolutely drowns out everything else, to the point where one may wonder why Troll didn't drop
the conventional instruments altogether and make a pure ambient album. It is always amusing to be able to see so well that
someone had just gotten their first Casio and could not bring themselves to put it down long enough to focus on making real
music. Even when you try hard to focus on what is happening underneath the keyboard nonsense, there is not much to appreciate,
here. Nagash does a fairly decent job of imitating Ihsahn of Emperor and Hat of Gorgoroth, for whatever that is worth. The
vocals are buried in the mix, far too much, and the drums are higher than they should be when compared to the guitars. The
guitar tone does have a decent sound, to tell the truth, but this cannot combat the poor songwriting and shoddy production.
To put it in a few words, this album offers solid musicianship but terrible songwriting. Troll, like so many other
bands, only gets a pass from some people for being Norwegian. Had Nagash come from any other country, he wouldn't have even
been signed in the first place and, if he managed to make an album anyway, no one would have taken notice or cared in the
slightest. Drep De Kristne is a recording that is 95% synth, 5% metal and 0% black. Eventually, people will learn that
it takes more than harsh vocals and a few tremolo melodies to make something black metal. If you are the sort to blindly worship
anything Norwegian, then you will probably eat this up. Same goes for listeners that like limp-wristed, non-threatening music
that can serve as background noise for trying on mother's make-up. However, for those with even the most rudimentary sense
of good taste and the slightest hint of critical thinking, this will prove to be nothing more than the generic pile of garbage
that it is. This is not 'black metal art', it's pretentious, sub-par filth that never should have been recorded. Avoid this.
(3 Nov. 2012)
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