From: Nocturnal Cult Webzine
Published: February 12, 2013
Original Link

France's eclectic and eccentric entity, Netra return with its sophomore effort, Sorbyen.  The album is beautifully enigmatic as the music shifts through degrees of melancholic black metal painted with strokes of ambient and trip-hop styles.  From the dark and sultry piano and emotive, sung vocals that take you on a nocturnal sojourn for the first segment of A Dance With The Asphalt to the sinister, yet melodic black metal of its latter portion you get an insight to the depth and scope of the album.  The dreamtime synth and clean vocals of Crawling remind me somewhat of final album from Manes.  It's a very reserved track that fills me with a sense of longing and hurt.  The title-track carries on the solemn, solitary emotions but frames them within a trip-hop beat.  And then I am struck by buzzing black metal riffs and a drum machine beat that borders on Burzum-esque, that is until it shifts into another trip-hop beat that throbs against twinkling synth.  The frigid guitars sweep back in accompanied by soaring vocals.  Part II of the album starts on the tragically mournful Wish She Could Vanish.  A tapping beat contrasts against the disharmonic guitar line that crests towards a blackened riff on the chorus.  The vocal line rides a monotone approach as well until it floods itself with emotion on the chorus.  A bluesy guitar seeps into the song's innards while it lays itself for all to see.  Some Pink Floyd-esque guitar plinking creates a vast canvas across which a brooding bassline and whispered vocals drag your subconscious into areas that are both seedy and thrilling.  Concrete Ocean has a rolling motion in its riffs and is about as black as Netra gets.  Raspy vocals and crisp guitars are juxtaposed against a fiery guitar solo and some unnerving synth that stabs at your psyche. The album closes on an unsettling note with I Shall Slay The Monkeys.  The synth lines are maddening and the beat fights against the reverberating guitars.  The song then explodes into extreme black metal.  The snyth enhanced melody would not be out of place on an album like Transilvanian Hunger.  However the drum machine and maddening synth lines would certain cause some alarm.  Netra has always been one of those bands that pulls me out of my comfort zones.  On Sorbyen I get lost in alleyways of regret, the night time illumination is the only thing to guide me as I am swallowed in loneliness.

Reviewed by: Bradley Smith 

From: Metal Revolution Webzine
Published: February 4, 2013
Original Link

About two years ago Netra released their monumental debut album Mélancolie Urbaine. Now the project/band returns with a new opus entitled Sørbyen (named after a neighbourhood in Gjøvik, Norway).

The album contains 12 tracks and alone its title should give you a hint; this is Norwegian inspired black metal! Actually, their influences are wide and ranging from the moodiest jazz to black metal and trip-hop. Meanwhile one thing is certain; Netra still challenges the listener!

Sørbyen is a both a continuation of the creative process that begun with Mélancolie Urbaine, but also marks a new beginning where the band evolves and experiments a great deal. The sound is very unique and something that I’m not used to hear on a daily basis. In other words; this is not an everyday black metal with relentless blast beats, hateful lyrics and raw riffs. It is much more sophisticated where most of the songs are quite emotional but also depressive, progressive and melancholic.

The overall atmosphere is well-placed, perfectly created by the intense use of synths and vocal melodies. Furthermore, I feel like this album is more far-reaching and works a lot better than its predecessor due to the better song-structures and improved authentic song-writing.

   However, the biggest pro of this kind of a record is that it all feels natural and honest, and it is not something you can say about most releases nowadays.

Usually I’m not the biggest fan of this genre, but I must say that Netra has done an amazing job with this album. Thus, I will recommend Sørbyen to everyone who is tired of the monotone and meaningless modern music.

Rating: 82/100
Reviewed by: Bato

From: Don't Count on it Reviews
Published: December 25, 2012
Original Link

About two years ago or so Netra released its debut full-length Mélancolie Urbaine into the metal underground to a pretty select audience. I don't mean that in a bad way, but it was a pretty interesting little album that was not for everyone. Now we have the follow-up to that album with a sound that mainman Steven Le Moan experimenting even further with the tricks of black metal.
I think it's fair to say that Netra's first album was a more honest fusion of trip-hop and black metal. It fused those two styles together in a way that was not done before and was very unique, if a bit uneven in spots. This new album is not as spiky as that album was in its fusion of the two genres and feels like a less true fusion of the two styles, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Though I hesitate to put this album into this category, it seems oddly appropriate to call this album progressive. The black metal side from the first album is definitely clearer and a lot more well honed in its use, and the trip-hop beats are used to create some rather well placed atmospheric moods, but there's a lot more going on in here than just those two styles, as I said before. There's quite a strong blues and prog-rock influence coming through in a lot of these tracks, especially in the vocal melodies and synth tones, perhaps no more so than on the power-ballad (sort of) Wish She Could Vanish. It's actually really interesting because the ideas are really solidly constructed yet being very fresh as well.

As an entire album, this album works a lot better than its predecessor did in the sense that that album was very uneven in its album structure. It was more that the track placement seemed to place more emphasis on the trip-hop side of the project than the black metal side. This new album really corrects that by not only making the fusion a lot more fluid, but allowing the ambient and trip-hop based tracks to stand alone in several tracks. It feels a lot more authentically put together where as the last one just felt like an assembly of tracks put together, at least in my opinion. Also, the songwriting on this album is far superior to that of the debut's. Not only are the vocal melodies on tracks like opener, A Dance With The Asphalt, and Crawling great and memorable, but they are also quite different from many other vocalists. Le Moan's screams remain as desolate as they were on the debut, which isn't a bad thing in my book. Obviously, a progressive influence is something I'm never opposed to in a project, and the later tracks on this album definitely demonstrate that Le Moan does have talent for writing progressive songs. I wouldn't have thought that blues guitar licks would go over trip-hop beats, but this album has certainly proved me wrong. The bass work is also very worthy of note on here as well, as it becomes especially jazzy in the last couple of tracks, hear closer I Shall Slay The Monkeys. Yet, it never feels like an exercise in fusing genres, as this album so obviously could have become. It all works together, and if only for that, my view of the album is positive.

I think this was a really strong piece of work and an album that really surprised me with how far ahead it beat out its predecessor. This is easily among one of the most surprising things I've heard this year. Definitely check this out if you're looking for some more experimental black metal projects/records.

Rating: 9/10

From: Pest Webzine/Slowly We Rot Issue 3
Published: December 20, 2012
Original Link

From my point of view the best Hypnotic Dirge artist to date, netra, is back with the second album, a followup to their highly-acclaimed "Mélancolie urbaine" debut. This time we're treated with 70 minutes of its strange combination of Depressive (Post) Black Metal with Trip-Hop and Ambient, something only the ones of you deeply open-minded will dig. Although this time there are less memorable tracks, the ones presented on Sorbyen have their own power and identity, my fave track being the Bluesy "Emlazh" with its high-class guitar performance. At some points I felt the drums being too synthetic and not fit to the music atmosphere, but overall I apprecate very much how netra makes its listeners discover another dimention, but be careful enough not to let you loose in all the melancholy transpiring from this material.  

Rating: 9.5/10
Reviewed by: Adrian
 

From: ThreNodies Webzine
Published: December 9, 2012
Original Link

About two years ago, I received one of the most impressive debut record I’ve ever heard. This piece of art featured a completely new style of black metal, which was mixed with trip hop influences, you probably never heard before. There was a huge thrill of anticipation according his new record called Sørbyen, which features an impressive total playing time of 70:23 minutes! Will it be able to follow the footsteps of its predecessor?

Mélancolie urbaine, the debut record of the French, could easily be described as one milestone of modern black metal, at least concerning the edge regions. The mixture of black metal and trip hop elements may sound quite strange at first but it was more than nice to listen to and really well done and as Sørbyen tries to follow up, there is nothing that could go possibly wrong, or could it? Sadly, there are some things that actually went wrong, or are at least more radical compared to Mélancolie urbaine. 

One thing should be made clear before we start with the actual review: It’s quite natural that artists/musicians try to develope their style and that this is accompanied by some major changes but, at least in my opinion, something went wrong here. The record is still defined through a steady interplay of slow trip hop passages, that are often accompanied by spoken samples and faster somewhat black metal like ones, although, the overall electronic influence has grown.

First of all, we would like to start with the positive aspects of the record though. There still are plenty of moments that can be as hypnotic and immersive as the songs that were featured on the debut. Although Streetlamp Obsession only features some spoken passages, it still features a good mixture of slow, distorted heaviness and electronic enhanced, melodic black metal passages.

Every song features at least one little passage that has the quality to catch up with the brilliant songs of the debut record and they construct a little golden thread that streaks the record. This record features clearly more clean sung passages compared to the debut record, which often reminds me of the eighties gothic-pop-rock projects, at least paired with the dark and electronic sounds. There are some similiarities to Frank the Baptist (Crawling) or even Placebo (A Kill For A Hug). The steady interplay of slow trip hop and fast black metal like passages were one of the most important elements of Melancholie Urbaine and, of course, Sørbyen features them as well, but sadly the transitions between both parts are rather abrupt and often less reasonable. For instance, the opener of the record  A Dance With The Asphalt has a rather slow beginning and a quite harsh end without a good transition or similiarity between both parts.

There are several of this structural “failures”, which could, euphemistically spoken, be considered as a positive point for the record, as they are quite varied but in my eyes the songs lack auditabillity. Another little flaw are the really electronic sounds, that lost their “retro” flair and are mostly somewhat tacky or (again, euphemistically) “oldschool”. For instance the later part of A Kill For A Hug features some really bad synthie sounding “strings”, that are neither suitable nor atmospheric. The production is well done though, as even the most complex parts are well differentiated.

Conclusion:

I don’t really know what to think of Sørbyen. On the one hand, there are some really good references to the debut record, on the other hand, there are  these strange structures that can’t be understood. Nevertheless, the record is quite varied but it lacks the big golden thread. Although you clearly can sense the special note of Netra, it would seem that he had received several basic songs, he just had to finish and release them as a “compilation”. You should be quite open minded while listening to this record as you could be disappointed otherwise. 

Rating: 70/100
Reviewed by: Daniel Dervaric

From: Lords of Metal E-Zine
Published: December 3, 2012
Original Link

French one-man outfit Netra is back with a second album after the interesting Mélancholie Urbaine, called Sørbyen Netra plays some kind of hybrid between depressive black metal, ambient, trip-hop and whatever pops up in his mind. This makes the makes rather eclectic although there is an overarching sense of depression throughout the album. Even blues elements made their way onto the album, which surprisingly suits the depressive black metal format very well. Idiosyncratic, original and emotionally engaging, Sørbyen is not for everyone. However, for those who can endure or even like the unconventional Netra has created an excellent relaxing and interesting album. 

Rating: 80/100
Reviewed by: Martin

From: Aristocrazia Webzine
Published: December 3, 2012
Original Link
*Google translation of Italian review

Project Netra our Mourning already spoke on the occasion of the first work  in the long run, the 2012 sees a new release of this one man band once again under French Hypnotic Dirge, "Sørbyen" is the title of the album, takes and continues the process that began with the first two demos and then with the full made ​​up mostly of Black Metal, Trip Hop and the "melancholy urban" which gave its name to the previous album, and that seems to be the concept on which it is founded on sound. 

in seventy minutes of music offered the propsota is varied, alternating gray and atmospheric parts that wink at Depressive without falling into clichés that have made ​​this subgenre a farce, but rather taking advantage of the good elements such as a riffing that these phases it is simple and minimal, often accompanied by arpeggios in songs like "Wish She Could Vanish" and "Concrete Ocean" (probably the closest to the style DSBM together with the first, half black "I Shall Slay The Monkeys"). 

electronic side is clear but not intrusive, we are many times in front of a beat slow and sounds vaguely retro feeling combined with a low work absolutely commendable, "Emzlah" (taken from the first demo) and "Kill For A Hug" are two of the best examples of this feature, the latter with a finish of style arches film a few decades ago that brings to mind the name of Portishead. 

There are digressions into other genres, "Strange Bliss At Dusk" has a base not too far from the Industrial / EBM while "Ill-Posed My Life" brings up sounds almost New Wave and the opener "A Dance With The Asphalt" has a touch of jazz in its early stages, the best of the proposal, however, is with tracks that can without any effort to immerse the listener in the silent night of a road lit only by streetlights, "Streetlamp Obsession" (a title, a program) and "Crawling" would be very suitable for a midnight stroll in solitude the melancholic vocals, almost always clean, and synths that seem to represent the only lights of a city engulfed in darkness fail to enchant and transport in a parallel dimension that takes the form of a decaying metropolis and empty, although at the same time full of life. 

With this "Sørbyen "Netra then proceeds to his own way: it is curious how a genre that has always been made ​​of the nature and the detachment of modern society two strengths will be able to find life in what has always refused and somehow continues to refuse , it's like this Black Metal was forcibly incorporated into a city that does not feel to be a part but whose features have still influenced his difficult life. 

For me this is one of the most interesting releases of the year, it's not so often hear heard so much work and not at all trivial project to watch, has the potential to give us other gems of this caliber.

Reviewed by: Gabrielle 

  

From: The Pit of the Damned
Published: December 2, 2012
Original Link
*Google translation of Italian review

To many of you the name Netra not say anything, to me it says a lot, and for that fact I was waiting at the gate with their second effort, always Hypnotic Dirge Records license plate. The one band French band returns with an impressive work of 70 minutes, there and then left me quite puzzled, for its content. To be honest at first, maybe the second, but also the third listen, I was disappointed by the performance of new Netra monsieur, do you want to sound too cold that does not stand the heat just a release of this kind should issue, you even for a guitar sound a bit 'too linear. At the fourth hearing, however, is something extraordinarily changed in my head, and the piano that opens "A Dance with the Asphalt" began to threaten my moral fiber and cause me to reconsider the vote of this amazing "Sørbyen." "Mélancolie Urbaine" is now a distant memory, set it aside, "Sørbyen" is a continuous emotional jolt from the delicate opening of the opening track, which soon will result in a black ride (Burzum style) with lots of screaming belluine is move to the next psychedelic "Crawling", which seems to come from a rather recent Muse album. Yes, here I imagine that it had already disoriented, and not just because it is the same feeling that he left me. Clean vocals on a synth and drums, before a guitar acrobatic take over and induce my goose bumps to rise up two fingers. Too bad for this damn mellow production, which lacks much of cleanliness in the sounds. Not bad, I can defer, meanwhile the almost catacombs and instrumental title track and the impression is that you have already heard three songs from as many bands that come from different views. Funny is not it? Even more so when a killer riff opens, accompanying the gorgeous gait of a mad drumming, the fourth track, "A Kill for a Hug", which regularly develops in the most unexpected possible, going for a minute to explore the territories trip-hop the previous work, then go wild in a fiery swirl evocative sounds, lights, colors and thoughts that make me finally realize. Here they are the real Netra, the ones I have greatly enjoyed two years ago and then wonder why in the grooves of this record we can come across in the Norwegian black metal style, or an electro sound, that scare me silly in front of the "thump thump thump "tribal trip-hop or delusional revolutions psychedelic pink floydiana memory (" Emlazh "), epic scenery snow (" Streetlamp Obsession "), song instrumental, jazz ramblings of matrix, true pop dance song or lullaby? Do not be stupid even if next to the piercing screams of the mastermind Alps on a romantic / sad / drum 'n bass, you can find soft vocals, recited or cleaned, placed perhaps on epic gallops or drapes suicial depressive black metal. Again, these are the Netra and will soon make intimate listening, you may discover new forms of music that you thought could not exist, or may even unfolding the gates of heaven ... or hell. 

Rating: 80/100
Reviewed by: Francesco Scarci 

From: Miasma Magazine
Published: November 26, 2012
Original Link
*Google translation of Finnish review

French to blow this time with very different ideas. In 2010, his debut album, Mélancolie Urbaine, published Netra persuaded genre definitions appear to be already at that time, but now once you move in degrees in deeper waters. Melancholic jazz, black metal, post-rock and trip-hop Combining sheet music, feel free to examine the limit. Experimentalism, despite Netra However, we can create an exciting and incredible journey into the unknown.

The album is the length of the plush 70 minutes divided by 12 pieces. Songs atmosphere is mainly a wistful melancholy, but patchy depressive black metal runttaukset, slightly lighter jazz and rock vedättelyt it all together and entangles electronic music tossed between feeling different directions. Black Metal accounted for there is not given in the large, but it is used more like a means to change tracks. Among accommodate as clean as rääkymislauluakin, the first of which the latter is much better. In fact, the album seems to be currently the singing and the music is not able to concentrate fully. Most of the songs is completely instrumental.

The most interesting songs to myself was relatively unknown trip-hop genre, which mainly a rather slow tempo and machine elements are indulging in a pretty gracefully between jazz, Black Metal as a post rockinkin intermediate terrain. Sometimes the songs slow down almost ambient-like calm in, droop, however, never repeat itself. All of this creates a completely Sørbyenille peculiar sound in the world, the maze is easy to forget for hours, over and over again.

Sørbyen is a brief summing up a successful exploration of the dark area where the music melds genres ignore it any more. The disc is aesthetically very impressive, but also melancholy and is perfect for the dark time of the year. If the experimental, melodic and melancholy are the words in your mind, you should be sure to consult the plate. Signing the album is sure to be one of the finest acquaintances.

Rating: 9/10
Reviewed by: Markus Mähönen

From: Midwinter Fires 'Zine
Published: November 25, 2012
Original Link

A call for you, open-minded people out there: here we have something you can really appreciate. “Sørbyen” by Netra is another “peculiar” release from the inspired Hypnotic Dirge Records, a label that goes on with excellent music. Netra is a strange entity, but it bears, in my opinion, the seed to become a big thing. A strange entity, I said…well, is a project with several influences, from jazz and trip hop to black metal you can say, something experimental of course, everything managed with a huge talent I must say. Every song bears something special, every single episode gives you a different emotion and feeling, and once started you cannot stop the journey. It seems that the opener “A dance with the asphalt” wants to immediately explain the Netra’s universe to the listener, it’s seems that it wants to recollect all the influences to be presented to the listener, but you’re wrong, that universe is profound, rich, and extremely variable, unstable  So you have to go on, let the coils wrap yourself, going down towards the unforeseeable. So you’ll go through different worlds, across the intoxicated atmosphere of “Crawling”, the gray coloured horizon of “Sørbyen“ and “Kill for a hug” and so on…an album for open-minded and curious people, but I feel to say to everyone: believe me, taste it, you won’t be sorry for it!

Rating: 9/10
Reviewed by: Emiliano