I’m not familiar with Germany’s long running, female fronted black metal act Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, so despite being apparently respected in the German scene and having been around for about 20 years, Mardom , their sixth release, is the first album or release I have heard from them. But it won’t be the last.

What we have here is some top notch corpse paint laden, frosty primal Scandinavian sounding black metal rooted in the early mid 90s sounds of early Immortal, Emperor, Marduk, Dark Funeral, Gorgoroth etc. Simple, tinny but razor sharp, and more importantly evil black metal. No symphonics or warm cascadian atmospherics, no dancing melodies, just riffs and riffs rife with icy, demonic malevolence.

At the forefront of the band is guitarist/vocalist Onielar  (also now of German legends Bethlehem) and her witchy howls, cackles and shrieks and the genre perfect  riffs of Velnias . They come together, as they apparently have for some time now, with an utterly perfect rendition of the style with 43 minutes of sheer classic black metal bliss. All 10 tracks (including 2 interludes) deliver fervent, blistering riff after riff of blistering, tremolo picked goodness. However, a fewf standouts in “T.O.W.D.A.T.H.A.B.T.E.” sneaky melodic Dissection esque ” The Boundless Beast” and closer “The Sphere”” truly bringing a devilish grin to my face. The riff at 3:10 might be one of those examples of utterly perfect black metal. A couple of slower tracks like “A Beseechment Twofold” and “Imperishable Soulless Gown” give you time to recover while still retaining that perfect misanthropic black aura.

This is one of the purest examples  the genre I’ve heard in the  in the last few years and I will certainly be checking out the back catalog as well as immediately checking out any new releases.

[Visit the band's website]

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