Made up of a cocktail of nationalities of Sweden, Indonesia and Japan we got NATTMARAN with their new album "The Lurking Evil" which was released at the start of September. Formed in 2017 under the name UNHOLY TENEBRIS up until 2020 and self described as "Thrash N' Roll". To go with the old school vibes this band channels this album is even available for purchase on cassette (been many years since I've seen one of them around).

The album opens with "Beauty in Chaos" and right away we have that NWOBHM feel as those riffs are very old school sounding. The vocal style to me sounds very black metal which is interesting to mix with this kind of music. The drummer does a decent job with keeping the pace. This song acts as the bands way of introducing themselves to us to say they have arrived. Next up we got "Runaway" which has a bit of an early IRON MAIDEN vibe to the riffing. The guitar work is quite catchy and the vocals does it's best to try and carry the track. We are hit with a coolish guitar solo that is not too flashy but sort of fits. A nice head banging section follows for the middle section. It is a step up from the previous song.

After that we got "Descending Through The Darkness" which has this nice hard rocking opening section. It goes a little melodic then back to the head banging, this pattern repeats through out. The guitar solo has a good feel to it as the song goes full thrash metal after wards to close. "Die By My Bullets" is a song that hits you in the face from the start. The riffing here is kind of cool and the drums does it's best to keep the pace but to me the vocals sort of feel a little lost here. I loved the guitar work in the middle section here as a guitar solo then rips through the song towards the end.

After then one we got "Necromancy" and you can hear the double bass from the drums trying to blast through. The riffs here are the best on the album and is the kind of song that wants to start a circle pit. There is a tone shift to an evil feel as a guitar solo creeps it's way up. Another tone shift to bring it back to the head banging old school riffs then play out the track. "When The Night Is Mine" is the final track and here the band are trying to go out with a bang. There are plenty of real rocking riffs here. The vocals, to me anyway, are good for black metal but just doesn't fit with this style of riffing. Some blues undertones help make for a very fun guitar solo as we got back to the rocking and is a decent way to play us out too.

"The Lurking Evil" is an album that needed better production as it would have made the songs stand out more. There was a nice mix of old school riffing with almost black metal style vocals. Personally I didn't think the vocals fit with what was going on, something a little cleaner may have worked more. The songs are very basic and to the point. There is some potential here but there is some room for improvement too.