Barely more polished than their '94 debut, Nifelheim's sophomore record (rereleased in '09 by Regain) is a Satanic caper of thrashing black metal with a select few down-tempo passages invoking the zombie/folk dance party of Isengard. It's an orgy of noise that, despite a black metal frame, should draw more fans from The Crown than Marduk. Sometimes its mill of tritone-centric riffs is a little too obvious, but the execution is gleefully haphazard, its enthusiasm irresistible. Neither technically masterful nor musically groundbreaking, Nifelheim possess that more fundamental and enduring of intangibles: a spirit of metal. Poseurs beware, etc.