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.