Every genre has a vast number of bands out there in its abyssal depths that have loads of anticipation surrounding them. It tends to be especially the case when there’s a name of a particular reputation and high adoration amongst the fans that has not released material for an extended period of time for one reason or another. Time is something that can truly add to the fascination of any name lying in wait or biding its time as people begin to shiver and salivate at the prospect of a return. But at what point do expectations exceed anything that can realistically be achieved?

Oftentimes, I find myself looking at long-awaited creations from the likes of Tool or Wintersun with how much overwhelming anticipation there was surrounding the releases of “Fear Inoculum” and “Time II” respectively. In each of the individual spheres that the bands inhabit, it was impossible to escape the hype around the very idea of a new release. As time went on, the expectations seem to undergo a rampant effect that practically damned the records to great acclamation and intense scrutiny from people that were long looking forward to new material, and that poses an interesting conundrum to me in plenty of other instances. Can a band surpass a demise through insurmountable expectations and come out the other side with its integrity intact, and fans properly satisfied?

It’s impossible to satisfy everyone, but time can give you the opportunity to ensure that whenever you return, you were given the space and tools to bring about your vision to the fullest. Even then, there are pitfalls to be had. However, for a master such as Downfall of Nur, such traps may as well not even exist. With the eleven-year gap since the act’s last full-length offering, the legendary genre-staple “Umbras de Barbagia”, this phenomenon was given more than enough time to make damn sure that whenever the act did return, the work would be ready in full without exception.

For all intents and purposes, “And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth” is a work that well and truly stands on its own. Sure, the album pulls from its predecessors, but this work is anything but a straightforward continuation of what came before over a decade ago. Many of us, myself included, may have been looking forward to an effort that dove headfirst into a dense work of rich atmospheric black metal backed by staggering folk instrumentation unlike much of what the vast majority of the genre was able to throw down then and now still. However, it’s in these seven expansive tracks that Downfall of Nur returns to us in a form that is still nigh on impactful aurally and evocatively, but it’s in damn near every way that the nuances of the record seek to cut deep and make one ponder suffering that was and still is.

From beginning to end, this is an effort that deals only in profound suffering. Downfall of Nur constantly asks you to put yourself in the mindset of those who have lost children and so much more from cyclical wars, violence, and tragedy born from the most ancient of times while it’s through pensive atmospheres and calculated black metal that is the definition of enveloping. The madness and heartache born out of these events play a key role throughout the experience as many of the nameless figures can be seen throughout history into modern society, and it would be an understatement to say that Downfall of Nur has given them anything but a powerful voice that’s a prime vessel for such tremendous emotions and primal evocation that we can all relate to on some level.

“And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth” does not rally you through intensity nor some fire that’s injected into your veins. Rather, it dares you to simply open your eyes and bear witness to these injustices that are still ongoing as they continue to shape history. Through this medium that can offer us so many different visages of the past and all that they can represent, Downfall of Nur is constantly and consistently at the top of its game to offer us an overwhelming experience that requires multiple listens lest the voices of the past and its sorrows pass you by, leaving you with an incomplete picture of everything that’s summoned forth.

Whether it’s through its long passages of ambient that give way to overtures of black metal that feel like the next evolution of everything that Downfall of Nur was known for while never once shedding the subtleties that made the name such an anomaly in the first place, “And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth” is a captivating listen. Surely, it’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, and I know damn well there are going to be those who wish for an outright sequel to “Umbras de Barbagia”, but Downfall of Nur is far more than that. An entity that represents the past in such a way that hardly anyone else in the underground can especially in such potency as what we see here, the grandeur of what’s at play here is nothing that can be denied.

For all that is summoned here, Downfall of Nur shows us that an eleven-year wait is a small price to pay to find ourselves before such vision and ingenuity once more.

“And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth” releases on May 22nd via Avantgarde Music!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “And the Firmament will Burn to Quench the Pain of this Earth” on Bandcamp here, or via YouTube below.

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