Black Metal History Month -Noctambulist -"Eiegieen"

 

This band from the Netherlands caught me by surprise. The first actual song on this album starts off with a scathing buzz of black metal, but they expand their horizons sonically from there. Do they share some common ground with Deafheaven sonically? Yes. These guys however are darker. They are very concise songwriters without going up to much room to simmer in their atmosphere. Their atmosphere contributes to the sparkling melodies that are layered in here. This creates a range of emotion beyond the screams of the vocals which are much nastier than Deafheaven's more monotone snarl. Now we can move on from the Deafheaven comparison as halfway into "Klatergoud" they have proven themselves as a force that is all their own more influenced perhaps by Weakling.

The second actual song since we are not counting the intro thing, drops the dynamic way down. If there was a black metal power ballad this would be it. It does build back up into a powerful post-rock-like punch two minutes in. The vocals do not relent. They are fucking pissed. We are nearing the five-minute mark by the time they lay into the blast beats and they do not hang on them long. They are used jsut the right amount on this album. The shoe gaze side comes out more on " Vagevuur". Two minutes in there is a riff that sounds almost hopeful. the bass line keeps the darker root, and they do not forget they are a metal band reminding you of the punches they throw in. They manage to keep the perfect blend of moods and dynamics throughout. I am never bored. 

There is a lighter tone set going into "Vreugd". It is more mid-paced. The vocals are the heaviest thing at the onset of the song. The drums begin to pick up steam next. The bass player is pretty impressive for black metal, not a genre known for bass players. At 13 minutes the last song is the most sprawling and also the one with the widest range of dynamics. It centers on atmosphere with metal building more toward the end, some cool sounds and riffs but the first few songs hooked me in more. Overall this is a pretty impressive album. I will give it a 9. If you want atmospheric gaze posty metal with a sonic spin of its own this is for you.