Nihil Invocation

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Band(s): Nihil Invocation
Label(s): Self-Released
Release Format(s): Demo, Digital
Release Year: 2024
Review Date: March 27, 2024
Author(s): FelixS

If anything, Nihil Invocation proved to be one of the most intense Black Metal bands out of the Punkish, Folkish, Ildjarnian school. The minimalist, raw and crude way of forging music has intrigued me throughout the band’s full and extensive discography. The creativity that shined through all of its releases, even within the rather narrow borders of this niche genre, made Nihil Invocation definitely stand out of the pack. Yet, last year’s ‘Blood Upon The Gates At Dawn’ felt like a departure from that trademark Nihil Invocation sound and this new 2-track demo seems to follow-up to these first steps in a different direction.

‘Blood Upon The Gates At Dawn’ sported a distinctly more accessible sound, not only dropping the overall harshness but also opting for a more melodic approach to the Black Metal genre. On both tracks of this new demo the band moved further down this path, even taking it into more dreamlike territories. That sounds like a dramatic change of the game, and, frankly, that is exactly what it is. At first glance, it is even rather hard to discern anything that we’ve heard on the previous Nihil Invocation releases, but upon closer look (or listen) the basic and fairly simple melodies are still there and they reveal their master’s hand. Deathwalker, the illustrious only figure behind Nihil Invocation, seems just appears to have rearranged his old musical ideas a bit.

This way, both tracks do sound a bit more traditional, mixing Raw Black Metal with a heavy load of almost dreamy melodicism that reflects the grandeur of wild and untouched nature. So with this, it effectively crawls into a new musical guise: Atmospheric Black Metal. But in fact, labels like that are just hollow phrases that are increasingly losing meaning and power.

In my review of ‘Blood Upon The Gates At Dawn’, I already made a small note that it was unclear where Deathwalker would manoeuvre its Nihil Invocation musically, with ‘The Bane Of Winter’s Longing’, some clarity seems to have been provided. This demo acts as a preview of the new album for which the music has been recorded and the artwork is being put together at the time of writing. Based on what we hear in these 7 minutes, I can only conclude that that new album is something to look forward to, but which will almost certainly bid farewell to Nihil Invocation’s musical past.

VM-UNDERGROUND

Extreme Metal Fanzine est. 2012

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Nihil Invocation – The Bane Of Winter’s Longing [Demo]

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