Artist: Nithe
Country: Norway
Label: Caligari Records
Formats: Cassette EP
Year: 2025
After a digitally released demo in 2021 the Norwegian Black/Death Metal band released a very strong EP in the form of ‘Night Of The Ghoul’, of which I was very surprised that it wasn’t picked up for a physical release. But fortunately the foursome did not let this put them off and they returned with yet another EP, this time Caligari Records felt that it was about time to support these guys.
As a whole, when comparing things to ‘Night Of The Ghoul’, it is clear that ‘Funeral Death’ is a more varied affair. The previous EP can best be described as some thrashy Black/Death Metal, ‘Funeral Death’ on the other hand is significantly more based on Hellhammer-ian first wave Black Metal with enough hints of 80’s Death Metal, some Thrash Metal as well as classic Speed Metal and Crust/Grind. Therefore it might be a valid conclusion that ‘Night Of The Ghoul’ sounded more coherent and ‘Funeral Death’ is slightly more experimental in terms of the incorporation of (more or less) new elements. So it could very well be that Nithe has taken a slightly different musical course for their future releases and that this EP is only the appetizer to what’s still to come.
Although certainly not a bad EP, I personally prefer the previous one mostly because of the overall heavier and more crunchy sound. Still, if you are interested to hear how a (bastard) child of Death Breath/Bastard Priest and Celtic Frost would sound like, I think ‘Funeral Death’ would come rather close.
