"An insult to anyone who ever tried to play an instrument or write a song," "evilness in the shape of amateurism," "horrendous sound quality"... yeah, right, we've been reading what others have written about Striborg. Not very professional, but we couldn't resist. Well, if your idea of black metal is "you know, a band called Dimmu Borgir from somewhere in Germany," then simply walk on. There's nothing for you here.

It's nearly impossible to count all the releases by the Tasmanian workaholic Sin Nanna. The guy lives in a shack at the end of some village, communicates with the world via hand-written letters, and single-handedly records Striborg albums one after another. So, here's another two, one new and one re-released demo. If you've heard the previous release, Embittered Darkness, and liked it, initially you'll be rather disappointed with the sound on Nefaria — it is actually good in comparison. The guitar sound is fuller, you can hear the complete drum kit, and the vocals are magnificent, distorted screams.

Nefaria’s is still not as good as, say, Darkthrone's polished production (no, that wasn't a typing error) but not as thin and buzzy. Nonetheless, what you expect from Striborg is not the sound engineering virtuosity, it is the atmosphere. And Nefaria is a cult, raw, necro black metal gem right from the start. Kicking off with a blastbeat and the most unpleasant keyboard sound ever, it literally sucks the listener in. After that, nothing really matters. It can be slow or fast, simple or wild, long or short — it just is. Details like tempos and riffs are irrelevant. No other bands come to mind — correction, nothing else comes to mind, except the overall misanthropic, claustrophobic, secluded glory. The pleasure in disconnecting yourself from the trivial world above and plunging into the dark world of your cherished nightmares.

A Tragic Journey Towards the Light comes as a second part of the CD. It is a rare 1995 demo and — finally — it sounds bad. Imagine a copy of a tape recorded from an mp3, some kind of a cheap electronic drum kit — or a drum machine, a guitar recorded on an answering machine and vocals that are too loud — it sounds THAT bad. Still, it's essential. With some concentration, the songs reveal themselves as prime examples of superfast, furious black metal, and it's not hard to realize that with at least the modern Striborg production, they would be devastating. As it is, they are here as a historical artifact, a recollection of something that could have been. You'd want to hear them anyway, so think of A Tragic Journey Towards the Light as what it is, something you'd pay to get and you get it for free.

But this review is about Nefaria, and while listening to Nefaria, nothing else exists. (9.2/10)