Nazgul Rising - Orietur In Tenebris Lux Tua

Nazgul Rising

Orietur In Tenebris Lux Tua

by Andrew Sifari at 18 August 2014, 12:27 PM

Italian Black Metal outfit NAZGUL RISING formed in 2001, releasing three demos in a four-year span prior to the release of their debut LP, 2014’s “Orietur in Tenebris Lux Tua.” Despite the album’s simplistic, black and white cover, the music within is full of color and variety, a display of ferocious Black Metal.

Right off the bat, I have to note just how important the album’s production is. NAZGUL RISING’s style is just as heavily rooted in the atmospheric, epic approach to Black Metal of classic EMPEROR as it is the straight-forward, riff-based style of bands like IMMORTAL and DARK FUNERAL. There is just as much a need for clarity between instruments and effects as there is for rawness in the overall instrumental sound, and the quality production job addresses these concerns very well. Songs like “Battlefields of Desolation,” “The Serpent Cult,” and the fantastic closer “Beyond the Abyss” prove this with their textured riffing, orchestral elements, and ferocious drum beats, as well as Borius’s shrieking vocals, all having equal breathing room while still meshing perfectly together. “The Serpent Cult” and “Awake the Ancient Hordes of the Black Twilight” impress as much with their sense of melody as with their ominous, fast-paced riffing. “Damantio ad Bestias” features more diversity in tempos, and is just as brutal and heavy in the slower sections as it is in the accelerated ones.

One of the problems with bands that incorporate elaborate compositions and symphonic elements in their music is that these qualities can often become too big a part of the music than is necessary, but this never really happens on “Orietur in Tenebris Lux Tua.” The band use these elements more as spices to enrich rather than as templates from which to build the music around, sticking to a base of dark, melodic, riff-heavy Black Metal, with the occasional lead guitar passage for good measure. The group’s songwriting ability is also commendable; the overall tone of the album is consistent, but there is enough diversity from track to track to keep things interesting from beginning to end. It’s a great Black Metal record that should appeal to fans of the genre as well as fans of extreme Metal in general.