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NOCTEM CURSIS
Nocturnal Frost

Mortis Humanae Productions (2014)
Rating: 8/10

Nocturnal Frost is the debut album from French black metallers Noctem Cursis. I’m familiar with this band from their 2011 EP Wrath Of Winter, which impressed me in parts.

The band – which formed in 2010 – plays a chunky style of black metal which like, say, the legendary Immortal, gets its kicks from tales of war, death and anguish. Vocalist Nihilhis has a rough texture to his vicious vocal sneer, which adds an extra layer of menace to this frosty tome. The one thing that impressed me at first was the guitar work of Raven and Terror, because instead of this being a balls-to-the-wall blanket of white noise, there are some excellent melodies on offer here.

The band is quite a force as a reflective black metal band, relying on a solid base of mid-tempo metal which has a spark of traditional metal, its framework occasionally giving away to some superb soloing which is evident on the fantastic ‘Le Guerrier Noir’. In spite of enjoying the EP I was worried that these guys might have resorted to icier waves of indecipherable extremity, but they find a medium between faster, aggressive passages and the ever-rewarding slower sectors.

‘Scars Of The Past’ is another fine track opening with a typical scathing black metal chord of dissonance, but this stark melody weaves its way through the icy percussion of Heimgardh. Again, the combo injects a slower division where the bass of Camulus remains strong throughout, giving a chilly backbone to what is one of the most aggressive numbers on this platter. However, all the while the band keeps coming up with these piece slower interludes, meaning that the album never becomes dull.

‘Secrets Of The Elder’ and the superior ‘Les Rivages de la Mort’ feature some excellent experimentation, the latter showcasing gothic overtones in spite of the rather clicky drum sound. Even so, the album boasts eight solid tracks (the opener, ‘Prelude Of An Era’, is a brief instrumental), including ‘From Space’, ‘Ov Immobile Energy’ and the exceptional blast of ‘World To Ashes’, so those of you who prefer more delicacy from their black metal but still like to be battered by black winds of mayhem should get their weather-beaten hands on this.

Nocturnal Frost is a well-constructed black metal album that still has that gnarly edge without being too abrasive. It’s always nice to hear a band with a classic black metal approach still set aside the time to introduce a few surprises to keep the listener guessing.

Neil Arnold

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