renkls Now this is an obscure and totally out there release, even for black metal. I'd say the dominant genre here is either blackgaze or noise, as this is just laced in feedback and noisiness. The album itself is one 71 minute track, where the feedback covers over ambient and black metal textures that lurch in and out as if a continuous composition, which this album is presented as.

In one way this is a difficult, beautiful piece of work, speaking on a very different level away from social or political message mongering. It is in a world of its own, and I can't say I've heard anything quite like it. Granted, this is the first album I've heard of Njiqahdda, and I may check out their other works yet. This isn't their most praised effort, and I can understand why. Unless you are well aquainted with noise, this release will really get on your nerves. That and the fact it's pretty hard to tell one moment from the next throughout the composition if you just sit down and flick through it. It takes 71 minutes of melodic black metal mixed with rather harsh feedback to develop itself full circle.

Too long? For me, definitely. It's avant-garde madness, I didn't sense any real logical flow throughout the piece, just a longform blackgaze/noise composition with subtle but noticable beauty to it. I am split on this release because I know its audience is already incredibly small, even in the black metal/noise fanbase - but I like it enough to say it's worth a fan of Njiqahdda's time, as well as a really adventurous black metal/noise sadist.

Vehemency I am not going to even try to listen to every release Njiqahdda puts out almost every week (a slight exaggeration there) through its label EEE Recordings - right now it seems that there are twelve 2010 EPs and albums. Due to its weird nature, Njiqahdda is a band I don’t want to listen to every time but there are also moments when I want to dwell in their psychedelic weirdness. That’s the time I pick up a new Njiqahdda release, this time being an EP named Forr Saantae that includes just one, over 30-minute song.

The song starts with a melancholic, slightly dissonant chord structure that sounds nice with its faintly out-of-tune touch. A few moments later the programmed drums kick in along with the lead guitar melodies that are one of the main features on Forr Saantae throughout. The pace is slow, not much unlike doom metal, and the lead melodies are really reminiscent of Yrg Alms from the samely-titled album from 2009. It is not until 18 minutes or so when this pattern breaks down into a less-rhythmic droney landscape. Drums and metallish guitars reappear around 22 minutes. The pace is still slow, but the rhythm guitars play now more active, palm-muted riffing behind the usual lead melodies. During its last minutes, Forr Saantae returns to its beginning, the only difference being that the drum breat is now played to a crash symbal. The change is subtle but skillfully made.

Forr Saantae suffers from unoriginality in respect to their extensive back-catalogue which makes Forr Saantae sound not enough different from their other releases. It is, however, an enjoyable trip to psychedelic landscapes. I’m not really fond of the programmed drums, surprise surprise, but they’re bearable because the band is an odd bird anyways. Forr Saantae is not for headbangers but for those into soothing states of mind. Functional sleeping music, if nothing else.