Limited to 500 vinyl copies with side A, having a rehearsal recording from 1996, and side B containing various tracks from 1998. This is what you would call true collectors, hardcore Norwegian Black metal item, and it embraces all the great charismatic individual qualities that such a release owns. On the 1996 side, the sound is muffled to the extent of how demo recordings generally are, but here we have a very audible and how I would describe as a true underground atmosphere. The tracks range from the fast to the creeping slow, with the fuzzy guitars meandering through simple arrangements. There is, as on the bands debut album, a penchant for constructive songs that contain memorable riffs and are not afraid to use melody in place of blatant aggression. Nidingr in 1996 were a cross between Satyricon and Burzum, set initially into that thoroughly enjoyable classic era of guitar blazing and vocal shredding snarls. Side B, 1998, two years later, and not much has changed. The guitars are thicker and the vocals less abrasive. Musically the band enters a Gehenna style groove where the harmonies flow across well fashioned arrangements that are both very accessible and smouldering with that Nordic atmosphere. A drum machine is obviously used on a ridiculously fast track, which thankfully passes in the blink of an eye. The rest is well executed Norwegian Black Metal. There are no embryonic tracks that appeared on the impressive, Sorrow Infinite and Darkness, album, none that I could distinguish anyway. This album should be re-pressed on cd, as its better than most album proper releases I come across on my other scribing duties on Live4metal.com Crin Text stolen from www.norsksvartmetall.com