Album Review: Nøkk – Heartless

Band: Nøkk
Title:  Heartless
Label: Solistitium Records
Release date: November 21st 2025
Country: USA
Format reviewed: High quality digital recording

Album Review: Nøkk – Heartless via Solistitium Records by Michelle

Nøkk’s ‘Heartless’ features a single released recently, posing as the album’s opening track. ‘The Blind Leading The Lost’ creates a confusing ambience at the start, though this aspect is quickly forgotten as the guitar riff takes away the listener’s attention from the indecipherable sounds at the start. As the song proceeds and the main riff takes places, the vocals are quick to join in and harmonize everything together. At around the 3rd minute of the song a very catchy and rhythmic riff is dominating the melody, making me completely focused on the beautiful yet sorrowful combination of what the artist is trying to convey through music.

As the record continues with ‘Heartless’, the harsh main riff is opening the song with its rawness while the vocals only add in to the sinister and overall merciless atmosphere, though the tempo changes not long after and the song takes a slightly calmer and bouncy approach given the diversity in sound.

‘Nøkk The Soulless’ is quite straightforward as it starts, and to be honest at first I didn’t think this song would entertain me much. While I was partially correct, I did enjoy the energetic riffs and tremolo picking present throughout the track. Similar to the previous songs, ‘Nøkk The Soulless’ holds an interesting approach with its distorsioned ambience, creating the perfect environment for any listener interested in something gloomier yet still dynamic.

‘All The Pretty Things’ continues the album, starting off strong with the lack of a calm intro which many songs tend to have. Again, I wouldn’t consider this a song I’d listen to on a regular basis, though it is to be appreciated the complexity and the small melodic aspects present.

‘Dead’ feels more melancholic and slow, the tempo gradually gaining speed as the song proceeds. The riffs feel catchier combined with the drum beats, and I would personally consider this song perfect while traveling. Just as I was about to get slightly impatient with this record, I must admit that this song makes up for the couple of times I almost doze off as I was listening.

‘The Hanging Tree’ ends the album in a pretty dynamic and raw way, being present yet again some rhythmic riffs which I very much enjoy. The violin, an aspect found in some of the other songs aswell, blends in quite beauifully with the harshness of everything else as the song ends a bit calmer yet still with a present tension. This was an album worth listening to, with the exception of a slight lack of originality if I have to be honest. Still, I did enjoy most of it nevertheless. 7/10

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