Peisithanatos

Depressive black metal as a whole has never really sat right with me. Entirely too much of it simply feels like teenage angst dressed up in corpsepaint. Coupled with the silly cover art, I really wasn't expecting much from Germany's Nyktalgia. “Bunch of gothy types with left-over Burzum riffs, I'm sure...” I thought to myself as I clicked on the title of the first track. My expectations were not met. The style of black metal played by Nyktalgia is surprisingly busy, especially within the realm of depressive black metal. There's none of that two-riffs-spread-over-twelve-minutes stuff you'd get from Xasthur or Striborg. Each of this record's four tracks is a journey, moving effortlessly between blazing blastbeats to achingly slow death marches to melancholic solitary guitar passages (there's even the occasional Peste Noire-like guitar solo) .Musically it's essentially a more diverse continuation of Mütiilation circa Remains Of A Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul, before Willy Roussel made his project into a vague musical framework for his smacked-out ramblings. But I digress. Peisithanatos certainly sounds a lot cleaner than any Les Legions Noires project, but I'm not sure that works in its favour. I'm not some kvltist who thinks that all black metal must sound like it's recorded inside a sock (underwater), but here it just feels too clean. It sounds too stark and bare, the band seemingly trading off atmosphere for high fidelity. It's a bit of a shame because the music is appropriately anguished sounding. The guitars sob just like they're supposed, and the drumming is surprisingly proficient for this sort of thing, though without ever being showy or threatening to overshadow the rest of the band. It's all topped off by vocalist Skjeld's impressive Varg Vikernes impression. His vocals are incredibly similar to the infamous mind behind Burzum, though Skjeld sounds more assured and stronger than Varg. He fits the music perfectly, sounding suitably tortured. However, rather annoyingly, second track Nekrolog breaks the flow a bit, Skjeld trading in the shriek for a rather generic growl. Indeed, the whole band decide to shrug off their sound in favour of a more aggressive style. It's not really a bad song, just not appropriate here. It's not always the easiest of listens, being split into four dense chunks. Unfortunately, the eponymous opening track just happens to be the best on the album, which means the whole record is marred by the fact that it's all downhill from there, so to speak. Not that the three remaining tracks are poor, it's just that they can be a bit patience-testing with nary an interlude or respite in sight. Despite my criticism of this record, I still think it's massively enjoyable. Mainman Malfeitor is a strong songwriter, and his riffs and melodies are some of the best I've heard in recent black metal history. It's a testament to his abilities that he still shines through despite being effectively neutered by the polished production job. I had never heard of Nyktalgia before I stumbled upon this release, and I must say I'm suitably impressed. There are some faults to be ironed out, and I'd prefer it if the band didn't sacrifice the atmosphere for a cleaner production (it makes it sound just a bit too nice). But considering this is only the band's second release, I think the band are clearly talented enough and capable enough of pulling out a really special release in the years to come. They've certainly piqued my interest enough to keep an eye out for future releases.