Nordlicht - Nebelmeer (2002) Review

If you're a regular visitor of this blog or have somehow landed here of your own accord, there's a good chance you are already familiar with the Swiss artist Tobias Möckl (a.k.a. Wintherr) and his involvement in the prolific projects Paysage d'Hiver and Darkspace. 

I've spent some time reviewing a couple of releases from both projects, even though a deeper dive is borderline mandatory and would be the perfect counterweight to surviving this dreadful summer. Apart from the interest in the discography, a more observant listener should have already noticed that Paysage d'Hiver material is consistently being released on Wintherr's own label, Kunsthall Produktionen.

Kunsthall has been operating essentially since the beginning of the project itself in the late '90s, almost exclusively licensing its own releases with very few exceptions (like Trist, Nordgeist and Devilgroth). What you might have missed is that back in the day, the label used to be co-ran with another individual named Nimosh, who also made music under the moniker Nordlicht.

Nordlicht from Bern released a full-length album named Nebelmeer in 2002, which is the sole and main release you'll find around. The album title (sea of fog) may have been inspired from the famous painting Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) by Caspar David Friedrich, or it might just be a term similarity, we'll never know.

I've bought Paysage d'Hiver's Shnee (2020) compilation, which features the track "Schnee (III)" taken from a split of the project with Nordlicht way later, in 2017. And somehow, I still didn't pick up the memo for checking the latter too. It must have been an inner collaboration between the two musicians, for old times sake, but it has a 16-minute piece that I need to check out after listening to this album.

Nebelmeer consists of four main ambient black metal tracks, sprinkled with short interludes in between, yet the total length of the record is not anything like what you imagine from this description. Everything happens in just 28 minutes, but it somehow feels enough.

The pure dark ambient tracks are quite more varied than I would have guessed, often touching astral textures apart from the obvious wintry ones. I thoroughly enjoyed the moments of pure black metal, where Nordlicht focuses on riffs that don't shy away from repetition and aggression, sometimes even in the vein of Hate Forest.

This is especially clear on the first track "Winterweg", as a more traditional raw / atmospheric black metal pattern is adopted for the spacey followers "Nebelhall", and "Herbstrot". Wonderful piano segments can also be found around in their most exhausted form, as sometimes employed in Nortt, or yes, Paysage d'Hiver.

Vocals are high-pitched, distant and almost echoed, while drums are stripped down to the most basic form of monotony, almost as if they stand on the side for the rest of the instrumentation. The record has the infamous underground black / death metal distortion of its time and actually even earlier, as it would totally fit somewhere in the '90s too.

One of the moments I found the most interesting is the eerie guitar melodies of the last track "Nebelherr", followed by middle-paced offbeat riffing and some clean vocals. Nebelmeer may try to present itself as minimal, but there's surprising variation in such a short total length.

Of course, it's for fans only, and especially people into the music of the aforementioned bands from Switzerland. Even after all these years of frequent digging and searching, I somehow completely ignored the existence of this project or this album, until just a few days ago. Better late than never.

Kunsthall Produktionen

Fauna - Ochre & Ash (2025) Review

Some years ago, I went on to put a few words together about Fauna's then latest and final album Avifauna, but was so oversatisfied with their own description, that I quoted them in full instead. This time, to urge you to visit their Bandcamp page and support this once in a lifetime kind of artistic entity, I won't take the whole text as is, but instead I'll define some important terms:

• Animism: The belief that natural objects, places, and beings possess a spiritual essence.
• Shamanism: A spiritual practice in which a healer or mediator communicates with the spirit world to guide or heal a community.
• Atavism: The reappearance of traits or behaviors from distant ancestral origins, often seen as a throwback.
• Ochre: A natural earth pigment, usually reddish or yellowish, used by humans since prehistory for art and ritual.
• Ash: The powdery residue left after something is burned, often symbolizing both destruction and the possibility of renewal.

The rest of my review, would actually be the Bandcamp description itself, and a 5/5 rating. That's all there is when it comes to this band's presence in black metal.

Extending much further than the conventional atmospheric or ambient black metal template, unfurling in long, organic movements that breathe 9000 year old air and with an overwhelming focus on the element of atmosphere, Ochre & Ash is a ritual for both performer and observer. You may have seen the words atmosphere and ritual being passed around with a light heart elsewhere, but this here is the epitome of their essence.

The album art itself nods: Cueva de las Manos, old hands stencilled into rock inside Argentina, some older even than agriculture. In that image lies the soul of Ochre & Ash, symbolizing the human animal as more than craft or survival, but belonging to earth, to spirit, to what endures beyond the blood-letting of time.

I often mention how the interludes are the first to skip in these albums, yet here they are stunning in their own right. Weaving field-like sounds, drones, and subtle textures that conjure the presence of forests, caverns, and the ghost of ancient ritual fires, they're as effective as the three main (and seriously long) compositions. 

Each one of these three, requires a separate post. Until then, I'll just say that there's no band in this sub style, that feels more real than this. And to think, we haven't even recovered from the return of Volahn last week, and now this...

Nature and madness

Rating | 4.5 out of 5 [Brilliant]

Darkspace - Dark Space -II (2024) Review

It's been 10 years since the last Darkspace album and we almost forgot about them. In the meantime, we did get Paysage d'Hiver full length albums from Wintherr though, which is pretty groundbreaking for people aware of the specific project.

I have to say, the case of Darkspace is one of a kind and if you get behind it, you don't dislike anything from them, as the direction and the concept is quite specific and never going to change. Not to mention, these are the only people that are worth of acquiring the label of "cosmic black metal". Many have tried, all have failed except Darkspace.

Things have been quiet, the Swiss brand name returns in the usual enigmatic manner, after an almost experimental album in 2014 that didn't win me over. My opinion that Dark Space III is by far their best has not changed, and it is the same with Dark Space -II.

There's not the usual approach here, Darkspace explores some distant funeral doom in the way Elysian Blaze does, focuses 100% on building the atmosphere, and the idea of a riff is splintered.

Apart from a quite long introduction of almost eight minutes, the one piece in Dark Space -II makes you happy the band is back, but that's it. These 47 minutes of music are enjoyable, maybe with too much meandering but all the haunting presence of Darskpace is quite strong.

It is objectively a great album, but maybe a slight disappointment considering what they are capable of doing. Insta-purchage without a question, and a nice return after a decade, making 2024 a little bit "darker".

Let the vastness of space consume you. [3.5 out of 5 - Great]

Bern, Switzerland | Season of Mist

Website | Listen

Track listing:

1. Dark -2.-2

Total runtime | 00:47:12

Spectral Lore - Sentinel (2012) Review

Release date: 2012
Genre: Ambient Black Metal
Origin: Greece
Label: Stellar Auditorium Productions
Listen: Bandcamp

And here is where Spectral Lore followed through. As if Ayloss was fully aware of the weaknesses of his previous works, a five year window is taken to fully fix and re-engineer the band’s sound into a new form that exposed the music for what it can truly be: perplexing, potent black metal with interesting lyrics and more distinct, spacey ambient oriented synths. One can tell how much inspiration must have been employed for Sentinel, which at the time was completely discernible from Spectral Lore’s previous albums, yet more of what we know them to be about today. Similarities to Mare Cognitum start to arise at this time as well, let alone the collaborations that followed, in the music as well as the stellar cover art.

The first two songs are everything you need. Well, and the last one. As some have described it as the milder side of the album, “Atlus (A World Within a World” in its thirty minutes of length, has impressively deep layered synths, a truly monster space ambient track that defined the project at the time and still is well ingrained in its name. While the staggering riffs in “All Devouring Earth”, and especially “The Dejection of Arjuna”, are always at the spotlight of Sentinel, it’s not just that which has been perfected in the album. The touching compositions bloom as the well-thought and structured guitar lines unravel, demonstrating how unique Spectral Lore is. One can find hints of French black metal, US atmospheric black metal, even – and very very slightly – traditional greek melodies, beautiful soloing, fine keyboard work and the production that a record as Sentinel would deserve.

In its own world, the conceptual follower would only come nine years later with Ετερόφωτος, as Sentinel has a very interesting story to tell with its lyrics. Comfortably between intensity and ambiance, it has a lot of characteristic and memorable sequences where Spectral Lore properly channel inspiration into the creative process. It’s almost impossible not to be amazed with the blistering tempos and riffs of “The Coming of Age”, or the melodies of “My Ascension into the Celestial Spheres” and how it gives way to the great outro. Most of Spectral Lore’s audience was obtained through this release, and how the band would soon get into the collective of atmospheric, space-related black metal bands with a clean, melodic sound (Mare Cognitum, Midnight Odyssey etc…). 

“Quest for the Supramental” is the only track I can’t seem to enjoy that much from Sentinel. While it has a few interesting guitar lines, it feels like its pending for too long and never arrives to a conclusion, at least not in the bombastic manner that it happens in other tracks. I would really appreciate the guitar work here in a different kind of release but just for me, this song doesn’t click that much with the flow of the rest of the album. A small price to pay for so many other great moments, Spectral Lore’s discography from then on reached the ears of the mainstream metal scene, and well deserved.

I wrote a little piece for the band's next album, and their most popular, III, back when it was released. This leaves us a with a few split releases, some singles and of course the latest full length, to have an overview of Spectral Lore. When the time comes.

Tracklist:

1. All Devouring Earth

2. The Dejection of Arjuna

3. The Coming of Age

4. Quest for the Supramental

5. My Ascension into the Celestial Spheres

6. Atlus (A World Within a World)

Damage: 3.5/5 [Great]

Spectral Lore - II (2007) Review

Release date: 2007
Genre: Black Metal / Dark Ambient
Origin: Greece
Label: Self-released
Listen: Bandcamp

A couple of points right off the bat, is that both the original and reissue covers look more beautiful than their respective predecessors of Spectral Lore’s debut album, I. A year later, II came out and it introduced itself (at all times, intrinsically rather close to the previous work) with a ducky acoustic guitar introduction and then a humongous, 24 minute long piece “The Thorns That Guide My Warpath”. At a first rapid listen, I didn’t know what kind of noisy sounds were jamming in its beginning aggressive part, which then turned out to be the drums, and that says a lot about the production of II, a record that sees Spectral Lore significantly putting their stuff together compared to the debut, yet aches from its burying sound. A lot of little gems to discover exist around in II, from emotional clean guitar melodies to more spacey ambient (a foreseeing of the chaos), but above all, more concentrated and adequate black metal.

There’s numerous intriguing lines in that first track alone, which could go for a separate little review on its own as it has the length of an average EP today, and even more than that. Vivid and playful acoustic in between more attacking grimness for the first nine minutes, post / atmospheric black metal drenched in soft pads for a while before the distortion returns, where Ayloss goes towards more epic guitar patterns of Spectral Lore’s own melodic repertoire. Harsh and serene intersect and swap with beautiful choreography, which makes this a piece that fully demonstrates Spectral Lore’s hunger for fully musical compositions with much more complexity and payload than the average metal track. Again, a proper production could do this much more justice than what it actually got, but by now the star had already started taking form and shining. A pattern starts to emerge: heavy melodies, taped with rich dark / space ambiance. Repetitive lines that go almost towards depressive black metal. Keyboard parts that a new listener would label today as “dungeon synth” inspired.

That’s what I am thinking while listening to “Towards the Great Crossroad”, “Recoiling Beneath the Waves” and “To Wither in Silence and Dismay”. Ayloss throws all his arrows at once with these pieces, in an album that sounds more confident and ambitious than its older sibling, but out of the same elements. Spectral Lore were never a typical black metal band, and II contains many more different branches than its raw sound suggests. There is less noise experimentation in II, and more layering, clearer ambient, clear even from the dreamy outro “Where Nature Won’t Ever Yield to Man”. The shortest track “Leaving the Stars Behind”, only three minutes long, could very easily be absorbed in a longer composition as part of it, but probably it has a separate meaning. The production baffles me the more I listen to it though, as guitars / guitar-like sounds, and different instruments, sound different at different points in the album, or at different volumes. 

Honestly, II is also another record I don’t go back to easily. It still seemed to me that with its abundance of ideas, it is not as concise as the circumstances demand, and the wall of sound is just another barrier. Nevertheless, noticeable steps forward were taken in just one year, the album – apart from my personal liking – has a bunch of neat moments for you to enjoy, if you like Spectral Lore and not under the umbrella of their later clearer sound. For me, from Sentinel and on is where the real magic happens, and where new levels are unlocked and achieved dominantly from Ayloss. Before 2012, what’s left for me is the history and its turns to acknowledge.

Tracklist:

1. Introitus 

2. The Thorns That Guide My Warpath

3. Towards the Great Crossroad 

4. Leaving the Stars Far Behind 

5. The Drone's Journey, Recoiling Beneath the Waves

6. Through an Infinite Dreamscape

7. To Wither in Silence and Dismay

8. Where Nature Will Not Ever Yield to Man

Damage: 3/5 [Good]

Spectral Lore - I (2006) Review

 Release date: 2006
Genre: Black Metal / Dark Ambient
Origin: Greece
Label: Saturnine Society (MC)
Listen: Bandcamp

Spectral Lore’s debut full length is very much not like material that followed later, and as this act has made itself famous with its massive and unique black metal sound today, back in 2006 things had not settled in terms of music or direction. I, was originally released in cassette, going along with poor production and primitive sound which, while already showing its compositional adventurous character, did not step that far away from the norm. Ayloss used hefty amounts of dark ambient, which also experimented more than just creating endless dusty pads, for example in the tracks “The Drowning” and “The Descent”. Unconventional noise-like compositions were also practiced not only in the introductory piece “Layers of Conception” (what a way to open an album”, but also in “Sigma Receptor”, having a sound equal to all the as-noisy-as-possible raw black metal bands of the underground today.

Unfortunately, the tracks in I are simply underwhelming in terms of ideas. While Spectral Lore presents lengthy tunes, for which it would later become famous, they are the weakest in this album, as it can be heard from the relatively boring guitar parts and transitions of the 13 minute long “Echoes of a Long Dead and Forgotten Place”. A lot of different ideas come into the game, indicating a clearly restless composer (no need to praise Ayloss even more), but the pieces have not be placed smoothly together in this puzzle. I feels more about him playing around until things click, and things clicked a bit later in Spectral Lore’s discography. The outro “Exodus” sounds completely out of place compared to the rest of the record, and “The Cleansing Rain/Morningrise in the Eternal Fields” overuses its natural samples, before an average middle to end part. Sounds come and go too quickly and nothing remains.

As a band that has achieved stellar levels of greatness since then, Spectral Lore’s early material are definitely worth a listen and should be part of the fans’ collections. This debut however comes off quite disoriented, with a noisy sound that is not helpful and very sparse good moments, if any. I appreciate the creativity that underwent this release, yet at this stage it wasn’t fruitful. I have returned several times to I, but the album has never managed to keep my attention except for only a handful of moments where it’s just interesting to hear the noise. Other than that, some more attention was brought to the record when it was re-released in 2015 on vinyl, with a beautiful cover art (the one shown above).

Tracklist:

1. Layers of Conception
2. The Drowning
3. Echoes of a Long Dead and Forgotten Place
4. The Descent
5. Sigma Receptor
6. The Cleansing Rain / Morningrise in the Eternal Fields
7. Exodus

Damage: 2/5 [Below Average]

Paysage d'Hiver - Schnee (2020) Review

 

This year will be a year to remember for many reasons. Little events happened in the scene that surprised me, and one of them was the exposure Paysage d'Hiver got worldwide with their album Im Wald. If you dare to call this the project's debut because it's a full length then you haven't spent serious time with the band, whereas the fact that they actually released and EP (!) in the same year is much more surprising. As a fan for several years now, I lean a bit on the negative side about Im Wald and not because of the popularity it got, but that's for a different post that will probably never come.

On the other hand, here is a collection of tracks that I previously hadn't thought needed to be gathered in a single release. Schnee is a compilation of tracks the self-titled tracks (I) to (IV), composed in a time period between the early 00's and late 10's, specifically "Schnee (IV)" was featured in the 2017 split with Drudkh, a breathtaking mini-album also for a different post. Considering that another compilation was released in 2020, we faced quite some activity from Paysage d'Hiver in 2020, who started off the year with a blast with the live show (remember) in late January and the early distribution of the full length there.

The process of listening to this band is like a patient exploration. It insists upon the subjects it touches for more than twenty years now, so there has to be some serious filtering of material in order to maintain a relevance. Paysage d'Hiver have achieved that in a remarkable manner so far, maybe not totally but mostly. I don't know if Wintherr planned this all along, but the sequence of the four "Schnee" tracks is brilliant, and also plainly describes, the most vital source of influence of the band, in its simplest word. To be a bit clearer, only through exploration one can discover the magnificent guitar part in the middle of "Schnee (I)", which comes at a point when the listener has assumed he has heard everything.

From the four tracks, "Schnee (II)" is definitely the hardest hitting, which is also the shortest composition at only ten minutes. All the main elements of the band are present, from the wind samples to the monotonous, lethargic riffs, distant shrieks and some beautiful clean singing during the opening of the compilation. I didn't need to be reminded of how majestic "Schnee (IV)" is as it was already under frequent spins, but I'm pointing out again how amazing it is. The cover of Schnee might be the same photograph as the cover of the band's split with Nordlicht, where "Schnee (III)" is featured. 

I never expected such an act to attract attention outside of the underground, and a little breakthrough was made with Im Wald. Things are changing as we speak, and this compilation offers a fine dose of Paysage d'Hiver's talent that works as a silent reminder not to neglect the past, when taking steps ahead. Schnee comes in an elegant black envelope, with gentle engravings on the side, on a delicate A5 digibook, proving how this is a jewel not only for its music. 

Spectral Lore - III (2014) Review

Album | III
Country | Greece
Genre | Ambient / Atmospheric Black Metal
Label | I, Voidhanger Records

| In my dreamland, I am strong and unbending |

Spectral Lore is rightly of the best current projects in Greece, having a nearly decade-long, quiet and remote path with more than notable releases to date. This project of Ayloss is moving in strong atmospheric waves that inspires dreaming and thinking, making his music a fairytale, even spiritualistic. III is the fourth full album of Spectral Lore and approaching close to a half hour in length, divided into two chapters , making it as the longest album so far .

The skills and the talent of Ayloss can be appreciated if one has heard older material of the band, as well as if one is really in the style of bands like the Swiss Darkspace. With this new record, new principles are based in atmospheric black metal, coming from the combination of musical elements executed naturally and accurately, provoking all the feelings of the listener in it's duration. Where other bands tend to get tiring with one-hour releases, Spectral Lore show the comfort they have with their lengthy compositions and leave III to flow perfectly.

The disc begins with an intense riff in the introduction of "Omphalos", which transmits the necessary "blackness" from the first seconds. However, the songs here often change style, going into more epic or rejuvenating post-black lines, as in parts of "The Cold March To Eternal Bright" and "A Rider In The Lands Of An Infinite Dreamscape". The two instrumental tracks they also have their own personality, with the first "Drifting Through Moss and Ancient Stone", having classical acoustic guitar parts and even reminding of acoustic rock at the beginning, while the outro "Cosmic Significance" being a very beautiful piece of minimalistic ambient.

The variety in the vocals on each track , which draw influences from many different genres. There is a balance between screams, growling and measured clean vocals, offering the rest of the orchestration more strength and morale. The ambient and synth parts of the album play an important role in the atmosphere of the album, having a medieval connotation in some moments. The unique sound of Spectral Lore expands the horizons of the entire genre and the aural experience of III as a whole, is certainly worthy of praise . This album is innovative, interesting and staggering when it needs to be, undoubtedly the best offer so far.

| Bandcamp | Last.fm | MI |

Xaos Oblivion - Black Mountains Spirits (2014) Review

Album | Black Mountains Spirits
Country | Poland
Genre | Ambient / Doom / Black Metal
Label | Nykta Records

| Black cave prayer |

It surprises me that I have never heard of this band, especially when their new album is being released and promoted by our own Nykta Records, a label I try to follow nowadays. This Polish project is led by one guy and he has already released four albums including this one, since 2008 that he's been active under this particular name. Black Mountains Spirits is a blend of black / doom metal with some ambient elements and it anxiously tries to chew the walls of it's closet to get out, standing right to the standards of a typical likeminded fan.

First of all, the album has a really good and clean production, not following the trend of solely dirty recordings of other bands. The atmosphere is of major importance and the proper sound needs to support it, therefore something like that is needed for sure, as it creates the feeling and the vibe the album aims for. Not many effects are necessary either, as the music is funereal enough on it's own to express it's claustrophobic misanthropy. Black Mountains Spirits has a cool cover as well, with more intense colors than usual, depicting a basic forest location.

The compositional variety of the record is not limited but not overburdened either, focusing on growls  and clean vocals, slow paced riffs and sometimes samples or ambient moments. The guitar lines are more simplistic that I might have wanted, but they don't reduce the overall level of the tracks. In overall, Black Mountains Spirits is legit and interesting, yet I would say it is a bit shy and doesn't dominate with it's atmosphere, keeping a silent stand for as long as it lasts. The tracks last around ten minutes, apart from the outro which only goes at two minutes, and the second track "Of Mists and Spirits".

Xaos Oblivion does not demonstrate tremendous skills on the instruments either, maintaining a style where he feels comfortable and working on the tracks from a couple of checkpoints each time. Listening to the album, one can see that there are similar elements between the songs and that might be to obvious to go unnoticed. The samples can be found in the beginnings and the endings of the tracks, where "Wind (Endtime" is played on a clean guitar and has a nostalgic / sorrowful melody, similar to any post-black metal band.

I think the third track "Paths" and the fourth "Wyryte Na Kamieniach (Carved On The Stones)" are the strongest here, as they quickly caught my attention and held on to it for some time, even though I don't think they are actually better songs than the rest. Black Mountains Spirits is a legit album and I appreciate the effort of Xaos Oblivion, yet I was not blown away by it, for a little more energy would not be bad. For fans of slow and atmospheric funeral doom metal, it is a band you have to listen to, and their other albums to, I don't know.

DAMAGE: 6/10

I Shalt Become - Louisiana Voodoo (2013)

Country | USA
Genre | Black Metal, Ambient
Date | October 29th, 2013
Label | Inspired Hate Records

| As the bodies drift away |

Coming from Illinois, he has been active since the mid / late ninenies and he counts six full lengths so far, including this latest offer Louisiana Voodoo. The project moves towards the desperate, razor sharp void of Xasthur-like DSBM but is subjected to experimentation, or just his own perverted visions for his art. I surely don't what's all the big talk about this project and I don't think it's as good as everyone says, because of the mediocrity and repetitiveness of the content, but this album was a little different.

There are a lot more synths this time and the emphasis is given to them, leaving the rest of the instrumentation behind. In fact, the guitars are used mostly to create a dim atmosphere while the drums are extremely typical and maybe not needed at all. I feel like he tried to accommodate a sick feeling as Pensees Nocturnes do, but instead leaned towards more theatrical lines similar to Bishop of Hexen and  most of the songs have pretty nice melodies in them.

The production is a bit weird, as if the sound has been volumed down or torn out, like the soundtracks of old movies that have glitches and noises. No instrument seems to be completely clear and it's like the listener has to overcome a layer of dust in order to dig into a melody or pay close attention to something, making it a bit less enjoyable and more tiring as a whole. Behind the buzz of the sound, there is hidden talent on the keyboards, composing haunting atmosphere close to the grandiose, avant-garde feeling, as if Arcturus spent all their money to drugs and reduced their artistic power to the one tenth, only to release a noisy, low budget dirty album. The last song "The Rats in the Walls" is by far the longest in the record, lasting eighteen minutes while the rest of the tracks vary from three to seven, and it's more into dark ambient than ambient black metal, using the known pattern of a couple of parts repeated for more than one time.

I have mixed feelings for the album and while I like "Strangers", "Drowning" and "Braquemard" a lot, I don't think the album is consistent at all. There is a general randomness of various synths mixed together (the Eastern voices in "Brief Glimpses of Death" describe my point, not fitting at all), vocals popping out of nowhere and sparse, weak atmosphere.  It's different from what I have heard from him so far but it's not any better or any worse either, just a little bit more interesting.

DAMAGE: 6.0/10

Bandcamp

Lustre - They Awoke to the Scent of Spring (2012) Review

Lustre "The Awoke to the Scent of Spring"
Autumn 2012, De Tenebrarum Principio

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This Swedish outfit is a project of Nachtzeit (ex-member of Hypothermia) and it specializes in slow-paced, woeful music, embodied with a natural aura and influenced from the elements themselves. "They Awoke to the Scent of Spring" is the third full length by the band and as I suspected, the music again is tenuous, lacking any extraordinary instruments or tools, and most of all relaxing.

The only characteristic that reminds of anything that has to do with metal here is the vocals. The voice of Nachtzeit sounds like a desperate echo in a vast forest, moves between screaming and whispering and definitely adds to the atmosphere, instead of displaying a kind of difference in any way. Compared to their older records, the vocals have not changed in various ways. Apart from the sound, which is identical, their spot in the album is as it was, distinctively recounting the very few lyrics and mainly standing back from the guitars and the synths to chisel the album's familiar sound. The album is split in four parts and only the first two have lyrics, leaving the last two completely instrumental. The length of the album is also close to what Lustre usually produce, counting 40 minutes of solitude.

One needs to be on a certain state of mind to follow the album without getting frustrated or falling asleep, since it is monotonous and minimalistic in a way that nothing resounding happens while it's playing. The slow tempo and the sparse variations might work for some to sink into the dreary musical journey that Lustre is, while at the same time, might as well disappoint and bother others, who prefer more activity and energy in their music.

Part 1 and Part 2 can be described as the solite hypnotic black metal that Nachtzeit composes and they are similar to their earlier albums, especially in "A Glimpse of Glory". Consisting of distant vocals and very few drums, synths and pianos, they do create an atmosphere of nostalgia and awe to the magnificence of nature, but still they do not surpass what the band has already released. There are fewer samples and a bit more key usage in this side of the album. Part 3 and Part 4 are quite different, as in Part 3 one can hear the sad melodies of a non-distorted and non-fuzzy guitar, along with the synth in the background. The whole track has a repetitive guitar and synth line, with simple drumming added towards the end of the song. Part 4 is the most organic song of the album and has sounds of rain and laid back ambiance for almost eight minutes.

I did not hear anything new from the band when I checked this album, they are at a certain level without degrading, but not improving either. The eerie music of Lustre needs to be dealt with at night, only then will it be admired more, even though this one is not as enticing as other pieces of his.

Track listing:
01. Part 1
02. Part 2
03. Part 3
04. Part 4

DAMAGE: 6.5/10

Lustre - A Glimpse of Glory (2010) Review

Lustre "A Glimpse of Glory"
Autumn 2010, De Tenebrarum Principio

Nachtzeit is not fooling around, instead he is focused on his project and keeps the releases coming every now and then. Lustre's second full length album "A Glimpse of Glory" was released a year after the first and an EP was out in the meantime, so the ground was still soft from the earlier releases. The record lies heavily on the atmosphere and the slow-paced tempo, but has undergone some alterations compared to "Night Spirit" and "Welcome Winter" EP.

The music is seperated to three pieces instead of two, without changing the overall length, which still clocks at 40 minutes. The ambiance of the tracks is not limited to some warm keyboard melodies, it has grown more spherical and contains all kinds of wild nature samples, like wind blowing, waves, wolf howls, ravens, birds... There is a second synth line that accompanies the guitars for a background basis, and on top of it are the various keys and the vocals, which sound distorted and afflictive. The music has grown into something deep and organic as well as atmospheric.

The first song "This Mighty Sight" (and by the way, i do prefer song titles instead of Part 1, Part 2 etc...) starts of with the sound of the wind, and shortly after there is a thrilling synth line which basically describes the first 10 minutes of the song. Towards the ending, there is a part that will be familiar to any fans of their first stuff, since it has these droning guitars with the scarce drumming and the soft keyboards, certainly provokes emotions. It is also the longest composition of the album, lasting 16 minutes. The second song "Lunar Light" has a 3 minute quiet intro and then kicks in with the same eerie ambiance as in the first song and closes with the sound of an outcrying wolf pack. The title of the album resembles a positive meaning and that is instrumentated in the last song "Amongst the Trees" which is a track of calmness and ebullience, consisting of synths and singing birds. I'm left with a feeling of euphoria as the album ends. The whole record contains only 4 lines of lyrics in the first song, the rest is fully instrumental.

I was expecting not to like this that much it really has a great touch on ambient black metal in a gentle way, that it completely erases the aggression of black metal itself. One has to be in the mood to appreciate this kind of music and if you do, i think this will come in handy during the late night hours.

Track listing:
1. This Mighty Sight
2. Lunar Light
3. Amongst the Trees

DAMAGE: 7.25/10

Lustre - Welcome Winter (EP, 2009) Review

Lustre "Welcome Winter"
Late winter 2009, De Tenebrarum Principio
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"Welcome Winter" was the first material i ever listened by Lustre, right before their debut full length "Night Spirit". The EP and the album were both released in 2009 with a difference of 7 months, and not much had changed in their music after all. This release seems like a shorter, about half the size, record which keeps the same aesthetic as "Night Spirit" and could easily be contained in it.

The structure of the album is familiar, since there are two tracks named Part 1 and part 2, exactly like in the full length. The only difference this time, is that the total length climbs not higher than 20 minutes, granting the two compositions with 10 minutes each, making the EP significantly shorter and less boring. The music itself is keyboard driven and builds a quiescent atmosphere with the buzzy guitars and the synth melodies, with incomprehensible screaming vocals that sound like strong wind during a freezing night. As the title states, the record is a manifestation of winter, the coldest and most inhospital season of the year.

The first part of the release is one of my favourite Lustre songs, just because i always sink into the introduction melody, which is to me, one of the best Nachtzeit has composed. With slightly more ambient parts and a couple of added changes throughout the song, he has created music exactly as his earlier full album, but just a little richer. The fact that both tracks are shorter avoids the tremendous monotony that was present before, and makes, just a little more pleasant. The role of the drums has been neglected, they are low in volume, more like background beats, similar to the ones of the heart, with seldom any tempo changes.

The second part is of the same weight as the first, with a very nice part during the last two minutes. As thought tangling as the music is, it has a tiny share of hope, driven out from nostalgia and melancholy. If it could depict winter, the listener would be in a warm, wooden house in a forest, nice a stone fireplace, protected from the wrath of nature, instead of being out exposed to it. This EP is the sibling of the first full length "Night Spirit", at the same pace and feeling, challenging the elements with its patience to unfold.

Track listing:
1. Part 1
2. Part 2

DAMAGE: 7.25/10

Lustre - Night Spirit (2009) Review

Lustre "Night Spirit"
Spring 2009, De Tenebrarum Principio

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Some years ago, when i was strongly into the DSBM scene with a purpose to find all the decent bands out there, i stumbled upon Lustre, a band that was complimented by the majority of the fans around the genre, and by the time, this was the only full length they had released. It is a project by the Swede Nachtzeit, who has also be involved in Hypothermia, a respectively more famous act.

"Night Spirit" contains two repetitive and monotonous 20 minute tracks, named Part 1 and Part 2. As Lustre focuses heavily on the atmosphere of the album, the tracks are composed with hardly any variations, aiming to wring the listener into the nothingness. Each song consists of regular, slow drumming, a simple riff or two, which goes on for the whole length, a mourning keyboard and some hissing vocals that appear and disappear inside the tracks. A couple of minutes are enough for each song to give you the idea of what's going to be playing for the next 20 minutes so it will probably mean something to the people that admire such a style, like myself. I don't really care about the repetitiveness here, it produces a droning calmness with ounces of despairs via the vocals and it's not difficult to approach, due to the neatness and simplicity of the instrumentation.

The first song starts of with a guitar line that has a hollow sound, creating an awesome background standard. In the frontline of the song lies the keyboard melody, which is funereal, yet hopeful, and pretty much stands out by itself. The screaming whispers of Nachtzeit come along to demonstrate Lustre's music at its full potential, and that lasts about 14 minutes, when a synth-only part comes in and keeps going until the end. The second song has a more "living" riff, which is more distinguishable in a way. These new 20 minutes follow the same pattern as the first part of the album, but i have to say i enjoyed this one a little bit more, because it gripped me more. Despite it's plain and simple playing style, "Night Spirit" has a significant level of uniqueness, which derives from the vocals and the keys in the songs. Monotony is not even a negative factor.

Even though it has the level of sorrow and depression i want in these albums, it didn't fully captivate me and i feel that if i was to listen to the album alone, without anything else to do or think, i would, at some point, get sleepy. Maybe that was what the band was going for anyway and for a first attempt, it is a promising album.

Track listing:
1. Part 1
2. Part 2

DAMAGE: 7.0/10

Nightbringer - Hierophany of An Open Grave (2011) Review

Nightbringer "Hierophany of an Open Grave"
Summer 2011, Season of Mist

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I can't decide if time favors this band's ideas on writing and releasing albums. Only one year passed since the release of "Apocalypse Sun" and Nightbringer unleashed their third full length, and maybe their best work to date. This is an album that puts to the test theories like "Only the European BM is true", which is of course false, but just for the sake of arguement. I knew these guys were amazing musicians and i'm glad they decided to quit goofing around and get down to serious business. All the objections i had in the previous albums have been diversified and transformed to something greater and complete, which puts them among the top of their field.

Despite its length being a little bit over the top with one hour of music, the album is full of intriguing musical uances. They have perfected the art of switching tempos during the songs, improving the dynamics and comforting the listener that the listening experience will not be staggering this time. It has finally stepped into a room of real cosmic darkness, violently claiming the throne, as the tracks vary from chaotic fast melodies into tormenting doomy ones.

The blending of the two is perfect and almost goes unnoticed, making the album's flow truly amazing. The musicianship reigns supreme, erases any signs of mechanical studio recreation of the music (something that did not achieve in the previous releases) and all the instruments are alive with flesh and blood to praise the recording. 

Nightbringer experimented with new progressions and added some acoustic guitars while keeping the pattern of riffs they followed in their older albums. Some of the tracks on this album, like "The Gnosis of Inhumation", "The Angel of Smokeless Fire" and "Psychagogoi" are the best the band has ever released so far.

The ideological content of the album is a malicious presence, haunting the music. It is enshrouded in a mysticistic aura that is a painful burden to someone not familiar with their music, it is unfriendly and aims for the highest values of life and death, via a path of thorns. The band is exposing itself to serve the music, with a glorious vision of the genre as a unique art. Ritualistic chants, scourging sounds, demonic synths, never used before and invoke into an overwhelming result.

The difference is that this record is full of variety and wealth of melodies. It has become even harder to assimilate their music now, but that doesn't prevent them from getting the credits they deserve for it. As far as i'm concerned, the album was welcomed with open arms in the underground community, and i'm glad. This album has given birth to the wings that evolved the band from something unclear to a true, majestic band.

DAMAGE: 8.5/10

Nightbringer - Apocalypse Sun (2010) Review

Nightbringer "Apocalypse Sun"
Spring 2010, Avantgarde Music

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Coming back with a second album two years after their debut, Nightbringer released "Apocalypse Sun", which was highly anticipated at the time. It seems like "Death and the Black Work" worked great for the band's carreer and triggered them to continue, as the fanbase kept growing. I can't see what's so special about their first record, but this one is a notable improvement, by all means. To me, they fully placed themselves among the best bands of USBM and the orthodox scene with this album, which is ferocious and demonic from the start to the finish.

I had a feeling that the production would not let the compositions rise in the first record, and since this one is following the same path, i was correct. The immense musical borders of the band are unfolded with great success here, since the sound is clear and polished. The compositional ideas are not vastly different from the ones on the first but they do have expanded and they are much more enjoyable, as they are distinguishable. The album fails to avoid repetition, but it does create a chaotic atmosphere, which at least helps the band spread their occult message. One that listens to this album will recognize that it roots deeply into the orthodox territory, without having to read about the band's views in the first place, and that means victory for a record. The concept of the album, once again, will not be understood by the average listener because of the lack of knowledge on the subject, and that's why it's important for the music to somehow speak for itself. I'm sure part of the band's fans are trully inspired by these apocalyptic lyrics, and most of them probably peruse on them as well.

Nightbringer have wisely increased the number of tracks and they have divided their work to shorter portions. The album again lasts more than one hour, but it's easier to go through when there are tracks as short as 4 or 5 minutes. I'm glad they decided to move away from the slow pace they had, with additions to several fast songs and parts of songs, as the first two of the album "I Am I" and "Supplication Before the Throne of Tehom" and "Goblet of Sulfur and Poison". There is less ambiance as well -if there is any- and that leaves room to the tracks to create a vibe of their own. The guitars have that unbridled riffing method again and it fits most of the times, except when the album gets sluggish in songs like "Excitium: Litany of the Devouring Earth" and "The Utterance of Kasab'el", which are the weak points of the album. They don't have any major down points on their own, but compared to the delightful variety contained, they are cast aside. The vocal work is deep, painful and interesting. It helps the instruments most of the times, even though some howls are a bit inordinate and cover too much space for their spot. I admire the drums a little bit more as well, despite the fact that their machine-made sound is too obvious in a couple of songs.

All in all, it is a memorable album. When you listen to it for the first time, it feels like you have not consumed 100% of what it has to offer, and it seems one has to shut everything else off to fully appreciate the album. I can't speak for the black metal kvltsters that might be disappointed with the clean sound, which of course is not a negative issue. I did enjoy it more than the first album, but it didn't leave me with the best impression after i was done for half a dozen times. The comparisons with Deathspell Omega can't be avoided, but not in terms of which band is better (no contest) but as an example similar to Nightbringer's music. I can feel the potential and apart from my own taste, which did not fully approve it, i recommend it for the fans.

DAMAGE: 6.0/10

Nightbringer - Death and the Black Work (2008) Review

Nightbringer "Death and the Black Work"
Late winter 2008, Full Moon Productions

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Nightbringer had already been around for almost ten years when their debut full length album "Death and the Black Work" was released in 2008. They are by now well known for their contribution to the USBM scene and their daring occult concept, which is present in their first work as well. I did listen to the album when it was first released and Nightbringer were not that popular, and it seemed like a cool record with bits and bites of value, but not something i would choose to listen to again anytime soon, if anytime. As Nightbringer built their own cult name in the scene and now the whole land knows them, i decided to revisit the first vile recordings. Today, it's just an unimpressive record.

The band is heavily devoted to the occult ideology and they are influenced by that in the aesthetic and lyrics of their music. I do like the orthodox style and i have high hopes of such bands, since they ought to breed darkness in them and deliver it via dim noises and melodies. However, i can't get any feeling out of this one whatsoever, even after several listens. The whole package (artwork and lyrics) is rather simplistic and uninventive, which brings up wonders like "Is that what they were preparing the last decade?", "Was this band formed the day before they released this?" or even "These kids listen to too much Deathspell Omega". An experienced listener would not fall victim of the superfluous mysticism and blackness, especially when one would get into the music itself. I've seen various comments about how this is a trendy black metal album etc... Its not completely false, but not correct either, considering that they proved their commitement the following years, but not with this sloppy and poorly written album. Because of the fact that the music is rather weak, all the occult characteristic seems like a fancy addition. I have to admit that i can't derive much from the actual lyrical work here, since i'm not that educated on the subject. I'm not getting skullcrushed by the artisticly violent music it shall have, as i do with other bands of this kind.

"Death and the Black Work" clocks up to one hour and five minutes from seven tracks. I was prepared for long songs and that's what i get. A disappointing aspect of that matter is the speed of the album, which is always middle-paced and repetitive, like the music is trying to hide behind the dusty production, like its afraid to get a little faster and heavier. The riffs are slow and dissonant, trying to create that occult atmosphere but failing, whereas the bass and the drums are scarce. There are a couple of fast parts and they don't bring anything new to the table, because of the drowning overall sound the album has. I had a hard time looking for a decent drum line into the mass of mediocre and lifeless plays and i'm confident that it would not sound very different if they were not at all there. The variatons from blast beats to slow and fast paced lines would have a certain beauty, if the production and the rest of the instrumentation weren't that brain entagling. They are focused on the guitars more, trying to create multiple riff layers as the compositions develop (Darkspace also attempt it, but with much better success). There are some interesting guitar lines, randomly scattered around the confusing main body, close to their ideal bands like Deathspell Omega, lacking the originality and variety the latter have. As if all that was not enough, the record is also way too long to be bearable, sooner or later you'll find yourself yawning and sighing in silence as if it will never end. I was begging for it to stop and i had the two 14 and 10 minute last songs to get through.

There is a short introduction in the beginning of the first song, something like dark ambient/noise to help the stench establish itself, but it does not have any effect, with its repeating samples and tape-recorded-like sounds. Various dark ambient parts are used throughout the album, but they don't move the earth any more than it already moves. So, was there anything i liked about it? Well, i can't say i did not enjoy a part of it, simply because i has been played again and its easy to dig. And because i like the bands they tried to immitate. If you skip the intro, "Caput Draconis - Black Saturn" is a solid song and so is "The River Lethe", as well as the beginning in "Of Silence and Exsanguination" which shows some vague influences from drone doom metal. Even if these parts seem attractive to me, i would not exchange a couple of good moments with an hour long below average album.

DAMAGE: 3.5/10

Elysian Blaze - Blood Geometry (2012) Review

Elysian Blaze "Blood Geometry"
Summer 2012, Osmose Productions

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When we're talking about really long album, Elysian Blaze's Blood Geometry should come to mind. This funeral doom/depressive black metal one-man project from Australia released this album last year in two CDs/parts, each one of them lasting around an hour. A monotonous drone is needed in albums like these, but if you decide to listen to this particular album as a whole, prepare to sink in the deepest void.

I am convinced that this is their best album to date. There is finally the perfect balance between the instruments and the guitars, in the first albums the guitar work was a bit unlear and cast aside by the synths. This is not the case here though, a previous flaw has been fixed and Elysian Blaze are even closer to excellence. The atmosphere of the whole album is magnificent, through its variety of synths, gloomy melodies and a sorrowful woe of screams. The whole idea is that the music stays slow, thick and depressive, so i would say its for the fans only. Inside the dark vibe of the whole album, i noticed an ounce of epicness at the end of the first CD in the self-titled track, an elegant ray of light between oblivion.

I personally love the way Mutatiis handles the pianos and the synths behind them. The ambience he creates is remarkable, and that places him among the top artists of funeral doom/depressive black. His music is complex and inspirational, by all means artistic. He is not hesitant to compose long tracks that go up to 36 minutes, a true manifest of pianos, orchestral parts, guitars, percussion and organs. Intriguing instruments are also used here and there, like this somewhat xylophone in the middle of "Pyramid of the Cold Sun". The ambient and black metal parts are close to depressive black metal, in terms of speed and sound, whereas there are groundbreaking funeral doom riffs as well. A surprise might be, that some guitar lines in the album are glorious and shiny, meticulously placed at the correct places, that can tend be uplifting, despite the general despair it provokes.

I didn't give this the attention needed the first time i listened to it and i came back accidentaly, now i can see what a fool i was. It is an amazing album by an amazing band, that will please the fans and not only. It is also one of the best active one-man projects out there, look out.

DAMAGE: 8.5/10