Netherbird-The ghost collector

2008
Pulverized

Netherbird were founded in Sweden back in 2004 and this is their first release for Pulverized records. It’s a bit of a blend of a couple of forms of metal mainly focusing on black, doom and even some classic style metal. There are lots of screeching guitars, mostly well placed keyboards, a slight theatrical feel and vocals that vary between flowing growls and some of the cookie monster variety as well. The melodies in both the music and the vocals seem to be a large focus for this band. They handle and maneuver the melodies enough to catch your attention. They keep everything heavy enough plus they rather hold everything together rather admirably considering the different sounds represented here. The less coherent vocals get on my nerves a little, but I have never quite taken to that style. There are a few points where music could have come up a little volume wise, but overall the production helped a lot. It’s not going to bowl anyone over, but Netherbird have released a fairly compact and consistent album.