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Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult – Follow the Calls for Battle

darkened nocturn slaughtercult – follow the calls for battle

Info

A little late, but well, better late than never – to say the classic words. This is the first full-length album of the German old school blackmetallers Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult. This is the album we all waited for after several highly appreciated and acclaimed underground releases. It is released in the classic blackmetal tradition, on CD (self financed), on tape (Propaganda Records) and on unholy vinyl (Christhunt Productions). All in limited quantities, and therefor quite hard to find, some of the outputs are already sold out (read: the vinyl version, released in 400 copies only). By the time you read this a new release has already been spawned upon humanity, a new 12″ vinyl split release, this time with the hordes of Donkelheet, more information soon…

I have to admit that I missed the split 12″ with Pyre and the mini CD before this release, so I can’t compare it with their early works. Though, I can tell you this is one hell of a blackmetal release. The band is quite proud about their debut album and say it won’t bore you to death with its length, you can say that again! With hardly 31 minutes on the clock the album is already done, which is to me just a little short, but… I would rather have it this way than an album that never seems to end. Though, I can’t spend much words on the negative expects of this album, simply because they aren’t there. This is just such an album that is quite rare to surface, an album that combines the blackened powers that blackmetal needs these days with the old school feeling blackmetal used to have. Old school blackmetal including the slightly echoed guitars, the raw and highly distorted bass-guitar, the fast drums, the great black and white artwork. And the raw vocals complete this piece of great blackmetal. About the vocals, yes, a female vocalist (and guitarist, by the way) I could say it sounds like Opera IX (or Cadaveria), but I won’t. It has some similarities, but I wouldn’t do Onielar justice with saying this. She has as own approach on the raw blackmetal vocals that are mostly vomited by male-colleagues, a very great voice for sure. It reminds me in some ways to Immortal’s Abbath, and guess what! They discovered it them selves as well, for one of the bonustracks on the vinyl version is Immortal’s “A Sign For The North Hordes To Ride” (yes, I know, the actual title is “A Sign For The Norse Hordes To Ride”, but the band printed it wrong on the sleeve!). Besides this Immortal cover we find another bonus track on the vinyl-version; “Ars Moriendi”, this one was already on their split release with Pyre. They re-recorded the song in the same style as the rest of the album, and therefor it fits perfectly into the rest of the album.

To end my review I just can tell that this an album for all those underground maniacs and people who like to hear some old school blackmetal. This album displays a rare quality, for both songwriting as sound quality. For a lot of bands release albums way beyond the acceptable quality and try to hide their lack of capacities in bad quality recordings, just for the sake of being true and evil. Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult doesn’t need this vulgar display of power. The band has enough quality to prove themselves in the blackmetal scene…

“A vast kolossos is storming over the land… With deafening storms in the air, with pounding trembles in the earth, with waves in the sea…” From: Follow The Calls For Battle.