Greetings, and Happy New Year!
Today, Lachryma Christi brings you a review of the debut EP of the Black Metal band Noctivagum.
Noctivagum are a two men project, based in Germany. D. does the drums, writes the lyrics and is responsible for the whole concept. While Lightning plays the guitars and the bass.
The band is pretty recently formed, Noctivagum exist since last year. And they are releasing their EP De Arcanis et Ritibus Sulphuris digitally in middle January, followed by 100 physical copies in February.
The voices were recorded by Wolf, from Italy.
De Arcanis et Ritibus Sulphuris has 7 tracks, being the first and last both instrumental songs.
This release is very atmospheric, very wintry.
It balances perfectly the soft and the aggressive parts. It is very melodic, very profound, very intense, and also very powerful with it's blast beasts incisions, which are pretty frequent, and with perfect timing. I find that this release has huge influences of the Black Metal music that was being made in the 90s, but they also have their own style. They have their own signature. In the compositions, in the melodies, in the whole feeling. With that being said, the songs are consistent, strong, energetic, and although they're part of a whole work and are better understood if you listen to them all in order, they're not repetitive, nor unoriginal. On the opposite. Each song adds a necessary bit to the whole release.
The voices aren't always growling. There's a good dose of declamation, which only adds more feeling to it all. I'd risk saying there is a romantic influence and feeling to it.
I'd like to see them live. This is the kind of energy and musicality I imagine it would go really well live.
The lyrics are mostly in English, but there are elements in Latin which also adds a special touch. You can tell the whole work was well thought, the whole writing was made with care, before being recorded.
My favourite song is Carpe Noctem. I loved it as soon as it started, and still plays in my head every now and then. It's one of the most atmospheric songs in the EP. Also catchy but deep.
I listened to the EP 4 times, two without headphones, and two with headphones, to get the full feeing of it, and for the technical part of the thing. It makes a difference. I always prefer to listen to anything with headphones. But in this case specifically, I wanted to listen to it both ways, to confirm something: I'm going to say that I'd like the whole album to have the same level of production, as the instrumental songs seem to be on a higher level. I'm not criticising, I'm only stating a fact. But I'm very pleased with the end result either way.
I hope when the time comes, everyone has the opportunity to listen to De Arcanis et Ritibus Sulphuris, because I'm sure it will make a difference in your day, but also in your Black Metal journey.
