Although the chance of finding, say, a decent Thrash Metal band with one member is pretty low, seemingly you can’t move these days without bumping into one of the plethora of Black Metal one-man-bands that inhabit the scene. Nortt, from Denmark, plays all the instruments in his self-titled band, this being merely the third album released in over twelve years.

The only other material that I’ve heard from Nortt is the 2004 split with Xasthur, and Galgenfrist is much more minimal, consisting mostly of echoing drones of sound that gently swirl in your consiousness. Occasional snarled vocals hover like the hooded figure on the album artwork, bearing his noose through a dark forest for sinister ends that we can only guess at…

It goes without saying that this is Marmite music; you either really like it or you really don’t. There’s a strong Funeral Doom influence here, the steady background piano in Uf Dode drinking from the same Burzumic well as that gloomy genre, and the atmosphere is wonderfully eerie. Truthfully, there’s not a great deal of variation here, definitely dark-room-and-headphones stuff, and if you’re not one hundred percent committed you may very well grow bored with the slow, intermittent drumbeats of the ten-minute Over Mit Lig, for example.

Of course, if you are one hundred percent committed then this is pretty much a perfect example of atmospheric music. It won’t make you headbang, but if you listen to it too much the disturbing aspects may well cause brain damage anyways. Creepy music for those that can appreciate it, when all is said and done, and those that it’s aimed at know exactly who they are.