Naxen returns to troubled waters.
Formed in 2018 in Germany, the band has already offered three EPs and one album in the past. In 2024, LN (guitar/vocals), SP (bass) and FH (drums) unveil Descending into a Deeper Darkness on Vendetta Records, who have been with them for four years now.
From its very first moments, Our Souls Shall Fall Forever is already very impressive, locking us into an incredibly oppressive atmosphere that is far from calming down with the arrival of the terrifying vocal parts. The alliance between the scathing leads and the massive rhythm is perfect to punctuate this sink into unfathomable darkness, but it is slowed down by a final of soaring harmonics to finally join To Writhe In The Womb Of Night where anguish immediately resurfaces accompanied by violence. There seems to be no escape from the trio’s thick curtain of dark tones, even in the rare sparser moments when the atmosphere remains unbreathable, and the same goes for the bitterness of A Shadow In The Fire – Pt. III (A Life Led By Loss), the next composition, which obviously echoes the last two tracks on the first album. Drumming is particularly hypnotic, especially on the cymbals, resonating in unison with the riffs’ melancholic approach which easily grab us even during the few moments of respite, then we’re allowed to catch our breath for a moment before Triumphant Tongue Of A Thousand Swords takes over, first with a catchy rhythm, then literally unleashing the underworld. All the musicians’ fury is channeled into this track, which pours out continuously before breaking up and returning to a heavy sadness, but it’s with a luminous outro that the album ends, and delivers us in the process.
Naxen manages the feat of captivating us from start to finish, while sequestering us in its cellar of darkness. Descending into a Deeper Darkness is an experience of hatred, melancholy and fury mixed together and spat out in the rawest possible way.
95/100