The Lands Between, which is the location wherein the events of the video game Elden Ring take place is home to a considerable number of strange creatures and epic narrative lore that would naturally make quite befitting inspiration for an extreme Metal project. Hailing from the UK, Noctule is the solo endeavour of Serena Cherry (formerly of the Post-Hardcore band Svalbard). Having debuted in 2021 with ‘Wretched Abyss’, an album that tackled the in-game thematic lore of another high-fantasy epic in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Cherry has now fixed her creative sights on the aforementioned Elden Ring for her inspiration on this new bout of Atmospheric Black Metal. Having personally spent a disgusting number of hours traversing the vast, shadowy, odd, challenging and often beautiful game world of Elden Ring, I have some degree of insight into these unique themes.
Kicking off this speed-running onslaught of enemy felling is ‘Welcome to Limgrave’, which sets the unforgiving stage with a fanfare of melodic guitar leads and ambient droning. The first full song arrives via ‘Devour The Gods’ which offers a generous helping of energetic glistening leads and I enjoy the catchy approach to riff-craft here; the song features traces of the infectious powerful anthemics of an act such as Mgła. Cherry’s vocals sound furious and quite commanding given the large-scale reverb applied to her voice among the guitars. ‘Lord of Blood’ takes on a Limbonic Art-esque melancholy tonality that transforms into a cataclysmic battle serenade during its latter portion. I like the tension-inducing plucked orchestral strings that give way to the grandiose Melodic-Death Metal riffage on ‘Grafted’.
‘Goddess of Rot’ winds the tempo and instrumental heft down to a more contemplative mood and I love how the muscular bass during the more spacious sections of this track fills out the sound without becoming distracting. The song’s final moments indulge in a unique central motif that cleverly allows this energy to smoothly bleed into the more hasty pacing of ‘Lament of The Omen King’. This particular track offers some more gorgeous lead guitars and an invigorating drum performance that bolsters the power of the song’s tumultuous mood. Later on in the track list the brilliant ‘Age of the Stars’ features a very righteous-sounding central lead and percussive riffing that is simply joy-inducing, it’s a song that I find fairly difficult not to headbang along to. Album closer ‘Hallowhorn Grounds’ also ventures within righteous territory, sounding akin to doing battle against a formidable foe below a shining cosmic spectacle. The clean guitar interlude reinforces the track’s intended sense of finality before the last movement elevates the composition to an ascendant place that is euphoric, anthemic and powerful. It’s a fantastic closer for this creative Black Metal listening experience.
‘Extinguish Thy Flame’ is a very fun release that pays homage to various elements of Elden Ring in a way that is fittingly serious and epic. The instrumentation and writing across the board is great and the modern-sounding production approach offers a tastefully implemented degree of clarity without diminishing the gripping and heavy energy of these well composed songs. I imagine the source material inspiration of this record may draw in fans of the Tolkienian musings of Summoning and I would also recommend this to all fans of modern Atmospheric Black Metal akin to the likes of Miserere Luminis and Agalloch.
