Black Metal History Month - Nyktmyst : "s/t"

 So far this month I have managed to steer clear of bands relying solely on blast beats, and perhaps that is a turn the genre as a whole is taking, though this album does use them at times, but in a dynamic manner. The Dutch Black Metal project has something odd and angular about their method of attack that keeps them from falling into the blasty mc nasty land. Even the opening track has an odd melodic clean guitar passage in the middle of it before the gates are stormed by the momentum you expect from black metal. At times this reminds me a little of Burzum, but less folk-influenced as I am referring to the first two post-prison albums. The vocals are a reverbed-out roar most of the time but there is more of a chant in places. 

Skipping over the interludes as they typically feel like an outro or intro that got edited out. The second song buzzes with more of a col nocturnal feel that you expect from black metal with more of a throaty rasp to it. Apart from the more chanted/sung vocal passages where it slows into more of a halftime throb there is not a great deal of new sounds being brought to the stable, but tried and true black metal tropes, which are well executed for what they are.

"Portal Tomb" closes the album. The chords ring out in more of a Dissection-like manner. It's a more uptempo track. The vocals fall lower in the mix, so they are not as crucial to the song. If they were they would be placed more forward in the mix. The drums also sit back under the drums forming more of a pattern for the guitar to dominate. Things do speed up a great deal to bring a more intense feel to things. I prefer something creepier from my black metal as this is better than a raw blasting sound, but it does play it pretty straight. This also includes the more galloping half-time ending which is very Swedish sounding. To their credit they put effort into the songwriting I will give this album an 8, hopefully after this introduction, they will experiment more for their full-length, Drops on Iron Bonehead March 21st. 

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Iron BoneHead Productions · Nyktmyst - Portal Tombp

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