Published: May 16, 2015

Less than a year after the release of their debut EP, Japetus, Norilsk signed with Hypnotic Dirge and already delivered their first full-length album. Two of the three EP tracks were kept for this debut album, together with 7 new titles, so The Idea of North offers us 9 tracks in its 55 minutes of playing time, 9 tracks mixing slow, tormenting Doom rhythms almost touching Funeral Doom territories with some more energetic '90's type Doom Death, and also some interesting Post Metal structures here and there to spice things up a little. I have to admit I found a couple of tracks quite boring, but as a general impression after spinning this a few times I'd say it's an interesting material defined mostly by repetitive (quite generic at times) guitar riffs, very nice guitar leads, comprehensive growling vocals supported at times by clean vocals and whispers, all sung in French (the band comes from Quebec), and a general Post atmosphere. The album comes in form of a digipak featuring a 12 pages booklet with lyrics in both French and English (good idea) and with an excellent artwork in perfect sync with the music.