NØKK’s Heartless is a brooding, riff-driven odyssey through American black metal’s emotional wastelands, balancing raw aggression with compositional finesse.

The album opens with a stark declaration of intent: Heartless is not here to comfort. Across its six tracks and 40-minute runtime, NØKK crafts a sonic landscape that feels both expansive and suffocating. The guitar work is the backbone—dense, tremolo-laced riffs that shift between icy dissonance and melodic despair. Yet it’s the rhythmic interplay that elevates the record: blast beats are deployed with precision, not excess, and slower, doom-inflected passages allow the tension to breathe. The production is deliberately raw but not lo-fi, preserving clarity without sacrificing atmosphere.

Vocally, Heartless leans into the genre’s traditional harshness, but with a dynamic range that suggests emotional nuance beneath the fury. The screams are layered and textured, often doubled or drenched in reverb to evoke a sense of distance or inner collapse. Lyrically, the album explores themes of self-destruction, isolation, and existential perseverance—dark hymns that illuminate the bleak plains of human experience. There’s a poetic cadence to the phrasing, even when buried beneath the sonic assault, hinting at a literary sensibility behind the nihilism.

What sets Heartless apart is its structural ambition. Rather than relying on repetition or predictable builds, NØKK embraces progressive songcraft. Tracks evolve organically, often abandoning traditional verse-chorus forms in favor of narrative arcs. This approach demands attention but rewards immersion: motifs recur across the album, creating a sense of cohesion without redundancy. The final track, in particular, feels like a culmination—an emotional and musical synthesis that leaves the listener hollowed yet strangely uplifted.

Heartless isn’t just a black metal album; it’s a statement of artistic intent, forged in darkness but reaching toward something beyond.

Bandcamp: https://nokkthesoulless.bandcamp.com/album/heartless-2

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Solistitium Records:

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Bandcamp: https://solistitiumrecords.bandcamp.com/