Burzum Archives

Review: Nachtmystium’s Silencing Machine

Nachtmystium: Silencing Machine (Century Media, 7/31/12)

“Borrowed Hope and Broken Dreams”

Nachtmystium: “Borrowed Hope and Broken Dreams”

Silencing Machine, Nachtmystium’s sixth full-length album, re-embraces the traditional Norwegian black-metal sound of its early efforts. The band’s first recordings were Darkthrone covers at heart, but by the time of Instinct: Decay in 2006, it had traded minimalism for riff salads and more textured songs. The Black Meddle series, consisting of Assassins (2008) and Addicts (2010), was purposefully experimental, drawing comparisons to Pink Floyd and Ministry.

Now Nachtmystium takes the lessons learned from experimentation and applies them to the conventional black-metal language of moveable minor chords and tremolo picking.

The Metal Examiner: Septicflesh’s The Great Mass

Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.

Septicflesh: The Great Mass (Season of Mist, 4/18/11)

Septicflesh: “The Vampire from Nazareth”

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Metal bands have long employed classical composition techniques. Celtic Frost introduced To Mega Therion in 1985 with a Strauss-ian melody played by a French horn. Morbid Angel cited Mozart as the greatest composer of all time on its sophomore album. Ritchie Blackmore laced his leads for proto-metal band Deep Purple with classical arpeggios.

Continuing in this tradition, Septicflesh‘s guitarist Christos Antoniou recently completed studies in classical composition. As such, the band’s seventh full-length, The Great Mass, is rich in orchestration, handled by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Metal Examiner: Inquisition’s Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm

Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.

Inquisition: Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm (Hell’s Headbangers, 1/11/2011)

Inquisition: “Crepuscular Battle Hymn”

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Initially formed as a thrash band in the ’80s in Colombia, Inquisition developed a buzz-saw, black-metal sound by the mid-’90s while simultaneously relocating to Washington. Its trademark became lightning-speed, grinding power chords and an atmosphere of ritualistic Satanism.

Since Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult in 1998, Inquisition has stuck to its sound with a Motörhead-like tenacity. Its newest effort, Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm, is its strongest output since Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer in 2004.

The Metal Examiner: Sargeist’s Let the Devil In

Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.

Sargeist: Let the Devil In (Moribund, 11/9/2010)

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Finland’s Sargeist became orthodox black-metal torch-bearers with the release of the 2003 album Satanic Black Devotion. After missing the mark with its last full-length, the band has returned to form with Let the Devil In, another compelling creation of harmonically dense black metal.