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Verdonkermaan

by Nihill

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1.
Upon my mouth god has set a seal My lips revealing not one secret The gift bestowed upon me by demon and nature "He hath cast me into the mire, and I become like dust and ashes." But I will not cry unto thee I march into the desert to suffer terror INCINERATION The dust of man The spirit of the earth The fiery spirit of god in heaven The crown of glory floating between lion and sun Is one spelling death for the winged child of promise My left hand destroying my own heart And withering the white roses of the albedo. Blindfolded children My fiery breath Will fan the furnace fire All will turn into black vessels Filled with earth and clouds of ashes Upon my mouth god has set a seal For I have become cruel to all With strong hand I oppose you I will lift you up to the wind Causing you to ride it (to dissolve your substance) For I know I will bring you to death And to the house appointed for all living Looking for good, evil came unto you Waiting for light, darkness came Your bowels will boil and will rest not Mourning without the sun Stand up, cry into the congregation "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, And my bones are burned with heat." Upon my mouth god has set a seal Lying in the dry desert Fraught with suspense The child of spiritual rebirth Placed under the lions claws The crown of glory floating between lion and sun Is one spelling death for the winged child of promise My left hand destroying my own heart And with withering the white roses of the albedo. Blindfolded children My fiery breath will fan the furnace fire Sublimation into the spirit of the earth Matter should be purified Then dissolved, destroyed, decomposed, And reduced to dust and ash A hand through the clouds Shock, storm and noise Conjunction between ignited air and powdered earth Volatile spirit white as snow reborn Your bowels will boil and will rest not Mourning without the sun Stand up, cry into the congregation "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, And my bones are burned with heat."
2.
Solar sulphur Cracks in the surface Fertilizing the stone Sulphur Solis Endless circle Fire-spewing serpent Suicidal coiling Hissing with hate Devouring his own tail Absorbed by the fire Begotten by itself The tail-eater completely disappears Solar sulphur blazes and tinges The conquest of the mercurial serpent Returning to an immaculate condition Ready for solar rebirth To start all over again lacking not the strongest of venom Awaking in the vast forest Seeing the first rays of the sun Its bright fire Through trees and bones Scatter abroad your poison Fly upward so fiercely Plumed all in gold Hovering on wings outspread Up to the high gods' halls Empty and mourning men No living creature shall stand before me Even the basilisk not equal Al my veins and colours perceived Down like the lightning, terrible and fast Caught in the vortex Entombed in the sphere of flame Burning in a furnace blast Flesh melting Needles through my soul Absorbed by the fire Begotten by itself The tail-eater completely disappears Solar sulphur blazes and tinges The conquest of the mercurial serpent Returning to an immaculate condition Ready for solar rebirth To start all over again Searing me through In the hour of my death I will not pray, I will accept Thou hast reached purgatory Embrace this sweet cleansing My venom becoming the greatest medicine Consuming my own venom Devour my poisonous tail Cosmic unconsciousness To be reborn and die forever Absorbed by the fire Begotten by itself The tail-eater completely disappears Solar sulphur blazes and tinges The conquest of the mercurial serpent Returning to an immaculate condition Ready for solar rebirth To start all over again Searing me through In the hour of my death I will not pray, I will accept Thou hast reached purgatory Embrace this sweet cleansing My venom becoming the greatest medicine Consuming my own venom Devour my poisonous tail Cosmic unconsciousness To be reborn and die forever
3.
Dualistic Universe. Battleground of opposing forces Now finally the lamp is lit And the sword is drawn Opus contra naturam Return to the source of creation A physical circuit Subject of regeneration The uruboric serpent. A beacon to those now departed Overcome the end The darkening of all creatures Spirits who linger among us In order to grow, all organisms must die Those who think themselves masters of the world Wake to find themselves subjects of the cycle Circulatorium A mirror of art and ultimate nature In pursuit of my stone The devil's tear In the depths of the earth Gospel of chemical faith Nature abhors a vacuum They who were slaves Dissolve and coagulate Streaming process of cyclic transformation Which sprang from your alchemistic fire Once chained in the dark Come forth shimmering and polluted ones Subjugate the race The fiery wheel guides us into dissolution The fiery wheel leads us into purification The fiery wheel guides us into coagulation The fiery wheel leads us into conjunction Dualistic Universe. Battleground of opposing forces Now finally the lamp is lit And the sword is drawn Opus contra naturam Return to the source of creation A physical circuit Subject of regeneration The uruboric serpent. A beacon to those now departed Overcome the end The darkening of all creatures Spirits who linger among us In order to grow, all organisms must die Those who think themselves masters of the world Wake to find themselves subjects of the cycle Circulatorium In pursuit of my stone The devil's tear In the depths of the earth Gospel of chemical faith Nature abhors a vacuum
4.
5.
The enigma of the suffering king Torn from the womb A new birth on the sun Here is born the emperor of none honour Soul returning from hell No lower may be born than he Incarnating itself with the spirit Through art or nature By any living creature Resurrecting body on the solar mountain The philosophers call him bastard son Extending wings for falling flight, a gesture of triumph And everything they do by him is done A previous birth on the moon What men desire from him he gives: slow burning death in many years to come Gold, silver and jewelry Weakness, decay, desecration and impurity Rage, poverty and sickness he proclaims. Happy is the man whom god this grants. Three serpents wriggle in the kings elevated chalice (And the fourth writhes around the queens arm) Here is reborn the empress of none honour A new birth on the moon Arbor solis gleaming with splendour The philosophers name her witch The pelican nourishes its young with blood Tincture of death and rebirth She multiplies, bears children ever again They are corrupted, impure with unwashable stain A closed vessel, the whitening work Pray to god that he will not break it She conquers life and embraces poverty She takes all riches, health, honour and goods Copulating, joining in the womb of the closed house Ascending unto the order of the elders Your light will be poured into endless chaos Tasting a mixture of sour wine and black blood Nothing on this earth is her equal Wherefore we say thanks to god in hell.

about

Holland's Nihill are one of the few bands in current circulation to which some of black metal's most common musical descriptors actually apply. Theirs is music of a truly relentless, cold and unforgiving nature, one which offers little or nothing in the way of relief or comforting melody. Though their albums are often punctuated by stretches of near silence or hushed ambience set between walls of frenzied blast and pummeling churn, these lulls serve to bolster the threatening whole in their absence of recognizable musical footholds. The winding paths laid by their music may be lightless, but the journey down them is one well worth taking.

Verdonkermaan is the third installment of a trilogy that began with 2007's Krach, and delves further into the churning cosmos as mapped out by its predecessors. Opener "Vuur - the Deathwind of Resurrection" serves as a devastating introduction to the album, replete with scalding washes of caustic guitars, and a howling backdrop that threatens a continual consumption of the foreground without ever fully taking over. Downshifting in tempo, but not in intensity "Spiral - The Taileater" brings the listener fully into the shadowy fold, with a hypnotic combination of cascading single note bends and insistent low end throb. From this peak of maximal force, through the dizzying cycle that closes out the album, many lines are cast into the pitch, but all remain firmly tethered to a dark hearted center. It's precisely this ability to transverse a multifaceted terrain without ever losing course that give the album its undeniably potency and obsidian allure.

Considering Verdonkermaan unto itself, as well as the trilogy to which it belongs, it's readily apparent that Nihill have established themselves fully and firmly with these stark and ferocious musical proclamations. While their efforts are clearly built on the foundational pillars erected by the early founders of the genre, they have added their own singular and acidic tongue to the modern lexicon of black metal. Though self imposed obscurity is the proud badge of many who've tread this particular realm of sound, the existence of Nihill and their freshly completed trilogy should not be overlooked by those who seek to stare longingly into heart of darkness.

credits

released August 21, 2012

Illustration man: Aubrey Beardsley
Thanks: Aaron & Hydrahead and
Johan & Monumentum.
Hails: Dodecahedron, Funeral Goat.

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