Review by Michael on December 9, 2025.

Norkh from the German capital are back in the trenches with their second full-length album which carries the heart-warming title "Under Teargas Fire". To be honest, this is quite a matching name for this black/ death/ crust inferno. Kicking off relentlessly right from the start, the trio blasts through the eight songs in such a hellish tempo that you might think of the glorious "Panzerdivision Marduk". Peppered with a lot of blast beats and tremolo picks, the teargas dose you get offered here is quite lethal.

The rapid sections are particularly notable, delivering intense energy as demonstrated in tracks such as "Aimless Swarm," "Unleashed Existence," and the direct yet impactful "Under Teargas Fire." Combined with the aggressive screams and growls by vocalist Stephan they create a very dense and oppressive atmosphere. Also the drumming is straight-forward and delivers a very solid hit-into-your face mood. Apropos "Unleashed Existence" – this one has a very catchy melody that makes that track a little bit more easy-going, if that's possible to say with these brutal songs.

"Simplicity Of Men" stands out for its thrash elements and an impressive King Diamond-style scream. And fuck yeah, the title for that track matches quite well. This song is indeed kept quite simple, reduced to the most necessary riffs and a very doomy, down-calming part at the middle of it just take up the thrash-vibes again a little bit later. This could be the black n' roll song by the band if there weren't the quite nasty parts in it.

The production is very clean and sterile which is matching for the atmosphere of that album. You can feel the coldness and hatred that the music spreads, here is nothing to find which is beautiful or adorable. "Under Teargas Fire" is a very sinister piece of music that doesn't want to be loved. It is more the blackness which fully absorbs the light, like the nothingness in "The Neverending Story".

The cover also conveys this story. Black-and-white showing some concentration camp fences, armed police men and a gas mask is mirroring the state of our world very well. If you think that this might be a little exaggerated, just turn on the news (those who are called fake news by some aspiring autocrats these days). "Under Teargas Fire" is a good soundtrack for the decline of civilization and morality in this decade.

Rating: 8 out of 10 teargas cartridges