adg211288 With all the variations and combinations of metal genres out there today one thing that it can become easy to overlook is an artist like Sweden's Nachtlieder, who presents a more back to basics approach to their chosen genre, in this case black metal. Nachtlieder is the one woman act of musician Dagny Susanne (formerly bassist of the death/black/thrash metal act Wicked), who handles everything on the album except the drums, which are played by session musician Martrum (also formerly of Wicked). The Female of the Species (2015) is the second album released by Nachtlieder following a self-titled debut (2013).

The album presents a concept story that seems to be Dagny Susanne reinterpreting the story of Eve and the Garden of Eden. I'm not a religious person and so had to look it up to refresh myself of the details of that story as its usually told, but this version appears to deal with a Garden of Eden in a state of decay, and a spiteful Eve, the titular female of the species, though I'm unclear if the album is a total reinterpretation of the story or a 'what happened next' sort of thing.

Musically Nachtlieder's take on black metal is a fairly traditional one. It's got a raw and cold production job but Dagny Susanne favours aggression over atmosphere to balance it. She rounds her performance off with a solid vocal that fits well with her riffs, though again staying traditional and sticking with growls throughout. It's all nothing that's not been heard before and doesn't seem to have anything out of the ordinary going for it. And yet The Female of the Species is an album that I keep finding myself wanting to return to for another listen and I think that there is one main reason for that; even when an album isn't pushing the boat out if it's done as convincingly as Nachtlieder have made The Female of the Species it's all that really matters.

And this definitely is a pretty damn convincing black metal release. I'd say my favourite track is the closing title track but these are eight well crafted black metal tracks that all do their job the right way. There is admittedly a bit of blurring together that comes with the territory that an extreme metal album that's faithful to the genre's roots always has to contend with, but it's only a minor issue on The Female of the Species which is another sign that this is traditional black metal done right. Good one, Dagny.