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Nightbringer: Hierophany of the open grave
20/12/11 || The Duff
Nightbringer are a US black metal band that has largely gone unnoticed up until the release of their last album in 2010, “Apocalypse Sun”. They’ve wasted no time in releasing the follow-up, an album that is much the same in many respects although there is definitely less of a shine to this record, more of a focus on atmosphere in a getting back to the roots manner – the melodies are more haunting and bleak, less direct, less ingraining; “Apocalypse Sun” was hardly commercial, but it was by far one of the catchiest BM records I’d heard all year. This is where Nightbringer have me at a bit of a loss; “Hierophany of the Open Grave” is an effort altogether more paced, and while I argued that “Apocalypse Sun” became formidable when drawn out, on this here record they’ve over-done it and once more we’re at something that takes up too much time for what it achieves.
Just so we know, the band indulges in melody commonly at the higher end of the neck at varying intensities, the desired effect overall unsettling and menacing. The vocals are twisted, tortured (at times reminding me of Ares of Aeternus), the lyrical concepts quite similar to that found on the last record (they say words like “abyss” a lot) – I have to feel sorry for the extreme metalheads out there who believe Satan is talking to them through the music, as “Psychagogoi” is repeatedly drawled to sound like a command of “Suck a cock go on, go on!”.
But then I get all those women and money you promised me.
Of course the drummer is a maniac – apparently a new guy, I don’t think the band has suffered much in replacing Grimnar but at the same time he was much more of a precision-hitter, probably more of the trigger-variety but had that extra level of pizazz about him, more of a rapacious approach. The production is less refined than on “Apocalypse Sun”, the haunting melodies still cutting through but overall a crackly sound not unlike playing an old vinyl in an abandoned house in the middle of a moonlit forest, tripping on acid with a dead squirrel’s corpse on the end of your dick. How do I have such a bottomless well of analogies at my disposal?
Altogether “Hierophany…” has more variation than its predecessor; Godfather themes as with the end of “Serpent of the Midnight Sun” off “Apocalyspe Sun” cropping up again on “Old Night”, the piano of “Old Night” and “Gnosis” building up fluxes of nasty energies, the organ of “Angel of Smokeless Fire”, the acoustic intro to “Eater of the Black Led”, the chants of “Lucifer Trismestigus” and “Angel of Smokeless Fire”, the repetitive bellow of “Psychagogoi”, the haunting lone-lead and opening minutes in classic Dissection vein of “Dreaming Above the Sepulcher” (more Dissection worship around the mid-way mark of “Gnosis of Inhumation”).
There are some nice bass-solo spots reminding one of Deathspell’s “Paracletus” (the end of “Gnosis” is another example of the French masters making their mark across the pond), ringing chords in a “beefing up the maelstrom” manner as well as dreary atmospherics; there’s also quite a bit of an Ondskapt vibe, although that could have come from any one of a million sources; it’s much the same tight blend of stop-starts, build-release, blasting and sluggish Hells as found on “Apocalypse Sun”. Thoughtful layering and structuring, vivid imagery and compelling atmosphere gives yet another highlight to the sub-genre if only disappointing following what preceded, this record more stripped-down and of less original fare – can’t fault them much for writing less accessible music in a sub-genre renowned for goat-rape, though.
- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: GMR Music
- Website: Nightbringer MySpace
- Band
- Nox Corvus: vocals, guitar, bass, drums
- Naas Alcameth: vocals, lyrics, guitar, bass
- Ophis: guitar, bass, lyrics
- VJS: guitar, drums, backing vocals
- ar-Ra’d al-Iblis: vocals
- Tracklist
- 01. Rite of the Slaying Tongue
- 02. Eater of the Black Lead
- 03. Psychagogoi
- 04. Lucifer Trismegistus
- 05. The Gnosis of Inhumation
- 06. The Angel of Smokeless Fire
- 07. Dreaming Above the Sepulcher
- 08. Via Tortuosa
- 09. Old Night
