Natur: Head of Death (2012)

NWONWOBHM

The New Wave of New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWONWOBHM for short) has been going for a while now, and I only wish I could take the credit for being the first to come up with that acronym. It’s a little unwieldy to see much widespread use, but it’s also a succinct way to describe Natur.

The New York band unleashed their debut full-length on Earache in June, and it’s fair to say they sound like Angel Witch fanboys. Of course that means twin guitar riffs, clean vocals, and pretty much standard heavy metal drums all around, with a hook and a couple solos for every song.


Bands like this aren’t trying to be revolutionary, and Natur is not. What they do is satisfactorily emulate their heros by writing and performing a handful of good songs. They do a small amount of Maiden-esque leads (notably at the opening of the record) but most of it is the much more common, simpler version of NWOBHM.

The quality of the music is pretty good, with passable vocals and some solidly memorable choruses. They are at their absolute best when they make good use of the dual guitars (e.g. “Decion”), each of them playing something similar but not exactly the same. But overall the record lacks the pure enthusiasm of the Original Wave of NWOBHM (or OWONWOBHM for short). It doesn’t make it bad, but it does make me just want to listen to Angel Witch instead.

The Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars



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