Nachtmystium "Eulogy IV" CD
[Southern Lord]
This is a limited edition re-release of this Illinois black metal act's recent "Eulogy IV" EP with four added bonus tracks for good measure, and I have to say that there's some excellent material here. Of course certain elements of the intentionally raw recording leave a little to be desired, but for the most part they've succeeded in nailing down a cold, crispy guitar tone with faint hints of bass, ruggedly dense percussion, and snarling vocal screams that have a little tinge of reverb going on to add distance. My only minor complaints are that I'd like to hear more of the basslines as well as more cohesion to the mix, but for the most part this sounds efficient for the particular aesthetic desired. Opener "My Vengeance" isn't particularly noteworthy other than the fact that it's almost more of a blackened thrash sort of approach, but the chilling melodic leads and dissonant chord phrasings in the title track are absolutely excellent - signifying that this band has far more to offer. And indeed much of this EP is the kind of black metal that I love: Midpaced and atmospheric with a shitload of sinister emotion. The general texture of this track nods to the classics but definitely keeps things sounding original, which is a great touch. They continue this approach of maintaining ties to the roots of their influences while pushing for their own sound in the awesome "Bleed for Thee", with its surging discordant rhythms and faint hints of eerie electronics and clean backing vocals. "The Wound Which Cannot Heal" picks up the pace and falls more in line with what I think of as a base black metal sound, using repetitious arrangements consisting of faster picking patterns, blastbeats, and a few minor back and forth shifts in tempo that provide added breathing room and force. However, the latter half of the track is slower and more melodic, using whispered vocals to accompany the solo and some bleak arpeggiated riffs as things draw to a close. The relentlessly dull "You Get Nothing" is the only song I dislike, with its overbearing repetition and exaggeratedly reverberated vocals deep in the mix - it's basically the same obnoxious thrash riff and blastbeat (almost sounding looped) with these silly, random vocal noises for two minutes straight. What a shame, as the preceding three tracks are so remarkable. The bonus material consists of live and cover songs, the first of which is a cover of Earth's "Charioteer (Temple Song)", recorded live at the Blitzkrieg Festival in 2003. The sound is overly raw but tolerable, while I'm assuming they've taken some liberties to twist the song into their own format. Next up is a cover of "Stemmen Fra Tarnet", by Burzum, recorded during the sessions for the band's "Black Passage" demo. The recording's a little thicker and slightly more subdued, and it's classic Burzum, so how can you lose? Then it's a take on Von's "Satanic Blood", leftover from the "Eulogy IV" sessions, taking a faster, more directly in your face approach. Ending things off is a live recording of "Antichrist Messiah/My Vengeance" from late-2004 in Chicago. The sound on this one is really muffled and dominated by the vocals, so... it's pretty rough to get through, but that's life. The layout, as expected, is fairly commonplace, with a sketchy logo chock full of pentagrams and inverted crosses and minimal coloring over photos of bleak landscapes. So there's a lot of black, a lot of typical looking typefaces, and a few simple band photos. It looks alright, but it could be better, so I wish they pushed a little harder on the visual accompaniment the way they do on a musical level. No lyrics are included either, so I'm not sure what they offer there, though the quote on the back of the booklet is promising in that regard: "The bombs will drop and the stars will fall... cities to rubble and ashes to all... Everything will be gone, nothing shall remain. Nothing is real, nothing's the same." I'm not completely blown away just yet, but the quality of some of these riffs is certainly impressive, so the band could indeed completely destroy at some point. I'll be looking forward to hearing more. This is easily some of the best black metal I've heard from the US. Nicely done. (7/10)
Running time - 39:22, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Eulogy IV, Bleed for Thee, The Wound Which Cannot Heal, Stemmen Fra Tarnet]
Southern Lord Recordings - http://www.southernlord.com

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