On behalf of musical experiment, Nocte Obducta offers a new album.
Founded in 1993 under the name of Desîhra, the band changes name in 1995, then the line-up suffers from some changes through years, including a hiatus in 2006, a reband with the name of Dinner auf Uranos, then a definitive comeback in 2011. Marcel (guitar/bass/keyboards/vocals, Kamera Obskur) leads the band, helped by Torsten (vocals, Agrypnie, Anomalie, ex-Heretoir, ex-Harakiri for the Sky…), Matze (drums, Age of Aggression, ex-Agathodaimon), Draghkar (guitar/vocals, Horresque) and Heidig (bass) for Irrlicht (Es schlägt dem Mond ein kaltes Herz), their twelfth album.
It is with a sound halfway between Black Metal and Punk that the album begins thanks to Zurück im bizarren Theater, an aggressive and soaring song. The contrast of influences is violent but also extremely seductive, which offers a rich musical landscape to the band to add visceral screams. Von Stürzen in Mondmeere is the next one, and we’re still in those dark and worrying tones, while the vocalist add this morbid dimension to the track. The sound is still impressive and cold, while offering some catchy harmonics. Rot und Grau offers worrying and mysterious sonorities before letting the rhythm part express itself thanks to a raw Black Metal. There many transitions, but they’re effective and they give relief to the song, just like this heady final.
The short Der Greis und die Reiterin offers us a more Punkish approach of the band’s music, while keeping this greasy sound, while Der alte Traum offers the airy and however Old School aspect of this dark universe. As the song is long, the band can easily place some mastered ambience changes, and it is once again this diversity that makes them unique. We continue with Bei den Ruinen, a softer song that makes us travel through the heart of darkness with the germans. It is with Noch, the longer, but also the catchiest track, that the album ends. Black, impenetrable and captivating, the song violents us during ten minutes, offering sharp riffs, esoteric transitions and soaring parts before leaving us.
Nocte Obducta’s music is complex to perceive, but those who make the effort will be granted. Irrlicht (Es schlägt dem Mond ein kaltes Herz) is an incredibly rich and black album, allowing the listener to escape into the darkness.
80/100