Azathoth’s Dream opens the gates of its castle.
Eager to deliver a work respecting the principles of Old School French Black Metal, the American one-man band has created Nocturnal Vampyric Bewitchment, to be released at the end of 2023 by Iron Bonehead.
Malignant Faith opens the album with heady Dungeon Synth influences that skillfully create an oppressive atmosphere before welcoming the virulent saturation and howls of Instatiable Sanguine Thirst. The hazy Old School mix is perfect to transcribe the project’s dark influences and bloody melodies, as on The Grave, which features a slightly calmer introduction accompanied by mysterious keyboards before letting melancholy tinge its riffs. The solid basis eventually accelerates, offering a suffocating surge before The Moor unveils a haunting yet icy sound where the vocalist lets his howls wander, waiting for the mix to suddenly ignite and carry us into its fury. The end is relatively abrupt, but it’s followed by the hypnotic tones of Extinguish the Light, a track with pessimistic overtones that manages to shroud us in its haze with occasional luminous peaks that gradually fade away before letting Ritual Exsanguination place its own intriguing tones between soothing keyboard layers. The track has the effect of an ethereal interlude, before A Millennia Perished envelops us in its majestic, fast-moving saturation, leaving melodious leads to compete with a solid rhythm, as on Winter Dawn, a fairly short track with cold, dissonant sounds. The riffs are as ferocious and fast as they are slow and haunting, but they quickly give way to Phantasm, the last composition, which holds us in suspense until the last second with its intense sound.
Azathoth’s Dream‘s Old School influences are chilling and undeniably forged in Black Metal’s darkness. Nocturnal Vampyric Bewitchment doesn’t just string together unhealthy riffs, it creates a real nocturnal atmosphere.
80/100