ALBUM REVIEW: Nocturnal – Serpent Death

German Black-Thrash Metal horde NOCTURNAL are back with their 4th album. Set for release via Dying Victims Productions on August 27th.

Melodic guitars soar into life with a fierce energy that calls to minds the likes of Desaster with their Teuton hammer pounding on the anvil of Metal with ravenous Heavy Metal. The lead work entwined with thick bass and venomous drums is met by dastardly vocals and ripping riffs that spew a macabre darkness forth with energetic and restless fury, something that German Thrash Metal has become renowned for over the decades. Wielding a strong arsenal of primitive yet masterfully passionate musical artillery, Nocturnal play that gloriously anthemic and yet evil Black-Thrash mix that has a dangerously morbid feel to it while the songs themselves are memorable and rhythmically charged. Clearly these guys know how to write a banger or two with their pure and traditional approach to Heavy Metal that while obviously sitting in the Black-Thrash camp has plenty of ancient and marvellously classic qualities to their music that cannot be overstated. This is real heaviness.

Cutting into flesh with warm bass lines that accentuate the infinitely driven drums and maniacal riffing, conjuring a backdrop of steel for the punishing vocals to spit venom upon, there is no denying the old school charm of this record while the band do not feel like some cheap nostalgia act, rather a malevolent force of Metal mayhem. Carnage continually ensues for a core riff and beat that expands organically into diabolic Thrash Metal while the bestial blackened tinge to the music further just how extreme it is. With no need for cheap gimmicks, Nostalgia are the real thing, playing hard and fast with original and high quality music that calls to arms all true bangers and fire starters, showing no mercy to wimps and charging into battle with that typically Teutonic fury that Germany has been gifted by the Metal gods. With a production that feels suitably 80s, the blistering riffs, fearsome drumming and demonic vocals are allowed to do their thing with full force. No weak, over polished nonsense, just pure thrashing mania.

This is a tome of total Teutonic Black-Thrash Heavy Metal darkness. True and ancient in their approach to crafting Metal music, this album is not for the false or faint of heart, this is a warriors anthem of pure annihilation and extremity. Charge forth, join the unholy war!