review by: Roberto Martinelli

Nargaroth had set the bar for itself so very high. Consider the utter godliness of all three of Nargaroth's CD albums (as well as the not quite as good Fuck Off Nowadays Black Metal - gotta love that title - and the Orke demos.) So, while this is a really good black metal album, as far as Nargaroth albums go, it's just ok.

The best part of this 4-track MCD are the flutes that begin and end the first song (which is spread out over two tracks), "In stillem Gedenken/...und ich sah Sonn' nimmer heben.". The wall of noise, fuzzed out guitar intro is equally awesome. Then, things go noticeably downhill as Nargaroth launches into this melody that sounds...almost happy. Unthinkable. Actually, the riff sounds a lot like the vocal melody on the verse to Candlemass' "Mourner's Lament." The song does have some cool riffs, but it doesn't have that totally brutal, yet somehow delicate melancholic power that previous Nargaroth stuff has. Kanwulf's vocals are still awesome, but not quite as good as before.

At some points Rasluka Pt.II gets alarmingly silly. The last song, "...vom freien Willen einen schwarzen Einhorns," seems to be a tribute to AC/DC's original frontman, Bon Scott. The song begins with a sound clip collage of radio reports of Bon Scott's death, and finishes with what is supposedly Kanwulf talking about Scott in German. Some soft female vocal is heard. Strange, but not necessarily cool.

Nargaroth has never had a lineup as big as this, three members, on any recordings up until now. We could come up with all sorts of silly theories why this new album isn't as good, like Kanwulf has lost his hateful edge, or there are too many people in Nargaroth. Whatever, Kanwulf did say in his interview with Maelstrom that Nargaroth would be different each time. As it stands as an album, Rasluka Pt. II is certainly a mixed bag, but overall it's worth getting, especially if you're a Nargaroth nut.