Review by Michael on March 4, 2026.

Nazghor from Sweden is a quite active band since their founding in 2012 having already released seven full-length albums. Now they are back with A World Ablaze on which they offer some traditional black metal. The album title may sound quite generic for black metal (hell, fire and damnation) but if you have a closer look at the content you will find out that it deals with a very worldly catastrophe. The band itself says to A World Ablaze the following statement:

"In 1702, a relentless fire tore through Uppsala and left the city in ruins. Three centuries later, that night still haunts our hometown. 'A World Ablaze' is our tribute to Uppsala’s fallen heritage and our own history. Old songs rise again, reforged in fire and darkness. This album is an offering to a city that rose from the ashes, and to a band that still burns."

Okay, the album title is approved, but what about the music? Kicking off with "Cursed And Unblessed" the listener is blown away with some heavy drum attacks and some typical Marduk-like riffing. But unlike their countrymen, they also use keyboards to create a more ghastly atmosphere. Another big difference is the use of highly melodic riffs that may the one or the other compare to another Swedish band – Wormwood. That's a very good start for the album and the expectations are high for the rest of it.

"Bathe In Blood" starts with some mid-tempo paced black metal that is quite catchy and has a certain groove but here and there are also some fast explosive outbursts. Here the band focuses pretty much onto melodic tremolo-picking that makes the track another early highlight of the album.

"Baptized In Blood" is another mid-tempo track that sometimes reminds me of Necrophobic. Especially the guitar technique here is quite similar to what Sebastian Ramstedt performs with the guys. Again the band is focused more on melodies than a complete demolition party and this is probably a good formula to keep the listener interested in the album.

Of course, just like every good Scandinavian black metal band, also Nazghor needs some Bathory references nevertheless. This is obviously to be found in "Within Crimson Kingdom". But it's not the early Bathory works that find some space here, it is the later ones like "Hammerheart" or "Twilight Of The Gods" that are quoted here. Some might say that this is nothing new and exciting but I would insist and say that the guys have only incorporated some guitar tunes that are quite similar into something quite different.

Maybe it is worth mentioning that the band re-recorded only old songs on "A World Ablaze" (the only exception is the short sound intermezzo "Porta Atra" but for somebody who didn't know the band before this is a very cool introduction to them. If you like to have some melodic but also harsh black metal, Nazghor have released a very good one for you now via Solistitium Records.

Oh and if you want to know how vocalist Nekhrid sounds when he does death metal you should check out the latest Entrails album "Grip Of Ancient Evil".

Rating: 9 out of 10