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NIGROMANTE
Black Magic Night

Shadow Kingdom (2014)
Rating: 6.5/10

How about a dose of gruff metal for your weary soul? This Spanish band have taken a while to get this one onto the racks, Black Magic Night being their debut opus and yet emerging from the cracks some ten years after their inception.

Nigromante come charging out of the blocks with hammer in hand, adorned in denim ’n’ leather and ill-lit by those black, flickering candles they’ve just decorated their pentagram with. This is hot-blooded masculine retro metal that sounds like it was recorded in the dark side of the 80s, bringing with it an air of doomy aplomb and traditional metal creak, particularly in the almost tuneless yet convincing vocal growls of Angel “Choco” Muñoz, who sounds like he’s had one too many flasks of blood.

Even so, this is a decent little record that isn’t afraid to pay homage to all that’s great, but gone, about heavy metal. Stirring riffs, crashing drums and images of stormy nights abound as the band slays through nine sturdy, if rather predictable, tracks with titles such as ‘Heavy Metal Age’, ‘Black Magic Night’ and ‘Satan Death Squad’, all which combine the boozy quality of bands such as Tank with the witchery of, say, Grave Digger.

The title track is a rip-roarer; featuring an infectious oily riff and menacing vocal performance, like everything else on this record, it boasts some mightily predictable lyrics such as “Our loud battle cry is an anthem of hate”, or the catchy drool of “Lights and power burning out the stage”. Hey though, there’s even a hint at Sodom with the dirty feel, but I’m also liking the fury of ‘Saturnalia Of Blood’ and the brooding chug of ‘False Idol’ with its tumbling drums and edgy guitar stab.

Although there’s nothing overtly flashy about Black Magic Night, it’s happy to exist as a straightforward record that is intent on getting your head to bang. Most of the tracks have a boozy, earthy quality without quite resorting to the cheesy aspects that bogged down bands such as Anvil, and so when the album does start to gallop, it’s like witnessing an out of control stallion; at times lumbering, often careless, yet in its naïvety rather endearing in its quest to become ballsy metal. Although the leads are rather dour and the drums a mere background plod, there’s still an inner charm which enables the likes of ‘Syndicate Of Crime’ to raise their heads beyond mere run of the mill toil.

Nigromante may not boast the world’s greatest vocalist and they may be short of ideas, but once the riffs find their mark it’s an album that becomes rather difficult to turn off, such is its greasy allure.

Neil Arnold

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