Release date: 2006 Label: Skull Productions Format: Cassette Catalog ID: SKULL00011
Band members
Tarannis Everything
If you, reader, are familiar with the Pela Gloria compilation, you might consider skipping Portugal’s Black Metal scene entirely. Why? Not only is the conception behind this release rather obscure, but the offered ‘art’ smells rather like rehearsal room than anything serious. Not all offered band on this split-album suck, but the overall quality is on an astounding low level and might shed a devastating glimpse on the ‘local’ scene; would it be representative in any way. Luckily there are also some talented Black Metal bands in Portugal and one of them is Acceptus Noctifer. Their first demo already woke some interest in the underground, but as I do not know it, I am simply unable to draw the line between them. Accordingly will this review only shed light on this demo and how the writer perceives it; yet there might be some chances that with some further knowledge on the progression and history of this band, a re-writing or small changes might be added in the future. What makes the art of Acceptus Noctifer enjoyable is the style in which they interpret Black Metal. The combination of fast played riffs, lead-guitar elements and catchiness are surely aspects worthy to be emphasized. It is somehow astounding in which way and how easy it can be to perform such an extreme from of music. A song possesses a great amount of atmosphere and offers a great variety of riffs and arrangements, which the band plays as if they still have dozens and dozens at their disposal. Also does the band avoid following the Darkthrone respectively Burzum scheme, but tries rather to create something unique and out of the common; a clearly reference to this is the Arabic ‘intro’ to the Ashes of Ancient Babylon track. By listening to the demo it creates in the mind the feeling of a band who knows what they want and how the song shall progress and evolve. Dullness or plainness, two aspects a lot of bands have to deal with, appear only on a small scale. It is appropriate to describe the music of Acceptus Noctifer as a raw style of Black Metal, which consists of two guitars and a bass, whose part was mixed in the background, but is still recognizable. Even though the production is merely adequate, the drums are a little bit too much in the foreground and so are the guitars, the harsh sound of the strings fits quite well to the music; there is of course the resemblance to early Darkthrone and it is hardly possible to avoid it. The coldness which is transported through the guitars has a positive effect on the music and a clean and polished sound would take away a good deal of the atmosphere. Furthermore would an increase of complexity in the motives and how the songs have been written would lead to an evolution away from the current situation of the bands towards something utterly new. The riffs are not simple or minimalist, but the impression is gained through the amount of tremolo-pricking used by one of the guitars. Most of the music is on upper midtempo with some short switches towards slower regions. Somehow it is also aggressive and has a lot of power in it. As the music consists of a great deal of variation of motives and ideas, the band is able to keep the atmosphere on a high level and the only calm moments on this demo are the intros which open several songs respectively the song Interlude; which is not metal at all but some strange sort of ambient. This demo is quite good and it is hardly possible to grow tired of listening to it. How large is the gap in quality between some young bands, which throw out release after release, and this one is immense. Catchy riffs, well written and arranged songs are offered on Spectral Thorns of Misfortune. The perhaps only real ‘flaw’ is the lack of a drummer. Would the band be able to replace the monotonous pondering of the drums with something better and more oriented on the riffs and motives, this release would really be great. This release is highly recommended.
Short:
Performance: (raw) black metal with nice guitar leads and arrangements
Production: quite raw and slightly unbalanced; drums too much in the foreground.
Song-writing: pretty good, a lot of variation in the guitar motives.
Positive: catchy songs, atmosphere, no real weak spot.
Negative: the drums; sometimes just a little bit too repetitive in the motives.
Booklet: a really nice cover drawing, hardly any information, no lyrics
Length: about 30 minutes
