Artist: Nefarious Dusk
Title: Death Beneath A Starless Sky
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Purity Through Fire / Worship Tapes
If you are allowed to have a soft spot for a black metal band, I do have one for Nefarious Dusk. They are another of Hrafn’s bands along with most prominently Thy Dying Light and who of course also runs Wulfhere Productions and Legions Ov Darkness as well as a certain festival up in the wilds of the Blackwoods. If Thy Dying Light are the raw fist of Satan, Nefarious Dusk add a little more depressive melody to the mix (in a raw black metal way of course.) I should also say I am behind the curve on this as it passed me by but as Bandcamp lists it as March this year I decided to sneak it in.
‘Black Heart’ immediately has that distorted, slow march of depressive black metal, the hiss and languid riff to the single picked notes. And then the speed hits. It’s dark in here, the vocals growling and tearing in the background as the melody rises on both guitar and keyboards. It’s perfect, cold and dark stuff and the melodic hook just sinks so deep, its mournful tones haunting me until the end.
‘Secrets Within The Dead Forest’ just appears, fully formed. The riff and melody hitting from the off. I love the vocals here; I know non-black metal fans might say ‘they all sound the same’ but they absolutely do not and these almost introverted, snarls and cries a layer or two down in the mix just add to the feeling of being lost in a place with no way out. ‘The Raven’s Curse’ is a strangely dour song. It brings to mind grey skies, a drizzle that seeps into your bones. Not darkness, just endless slate above you with no end in site but the music, the use of spoken word completely wraps you up in its world.
The ten minute title track begins slow but with a stronger melodic line than before. It adds to the air of thoughts turned inwards when everything has reached the end. It has such a strong melody, but it still absolutely cleaves to the heart of black metal. It stares unflinchingly into the darkness, regret strong but not deterring them. It is epic and frankly magnificent.
‘Mountains Of Transylvania’ I am not going to lie sounds as though it from a different session. Not just the full tilt raw black metal that erupts, but the production is thinner concentrating more on the gnarly, buzzing riff. Don’t get me wrong; its a fine song on its own, just a curious swerve and placement? Maybe not. But equally the closer ‘Hymns Of Winter Depression’ sits somewhere between ‘Mountains…’ and the title track in feel. It has the same almost punk driven raw black metal sound of ‘Mountains…’ but a little touch more melody but again the production sounds like a different session. So curiously I have come to play these last two tracks first and the rest of the album afterwards; but hey that’s just me probably.
None of this however should take away in the slightest. This is another excellent addition to the UKBM scene and the depressive and melodic aspects of the first four long tracks are a rich and fascinating development for Nefarious Dusk and I heartily recommend you give this a listen if like me you have slept on it.
Gizmo
https://wulfhereproductions.bandcamp.com/album/death-beneath-a-starless-sky
Walking The Liminal Space 