Origin:	Norway
Genres:	Black Metal

Last update/review:	January 30, 2010

Troll

Troll is the on-again, off-again project led by one Nagash. Nagash is better known for forming and leading The Kovenant (where he now goes by the name Lex Icon), but Troll predates that band by a number of years, formed back in 1992 originally as a trio. The other two guys left and Nagash put out two releases done completely by himself, then put Troll on hold while he formed Covenant (later The Kovenant) as well as serving time in Dimmu Borgir for a time. A few years later, Nagash recruited a full lineup and released two more albums (actually recorded in one session but released a year apart) before once again putting the band on hold. Finally, yet another all-new lineup has a release in early 2010. Comparing the first two Troll eras, the early work, as seen on 1996's Drep De Kristne, shows Nagash at his blackest, as this album is clearly the truest black metal album he's ever done, an old-school symphonic black metal fest in the tradition of, say, early Emperor. By contrast, the work on The Last Predators, released in 2000, modernizes the basic black metal style noticeably, with an improved production, riffing a shade more traditionally metal rather than the pure black metal style of the past, and slight industrial touches (though not close to what Nagash has been doing with The Kovenant recently).