This year has already seen what feels like a boatload of black metal releases, and I've already listened to some truly incredible material. From here on out, subsequent black metal releases have some tough competition. Judging from past work, I thought that NIGHTBRINGER was more than up for the challenge. In the wake of the mighty "Ego Dominus Tuus", I was looking forward to NIGHTBRINGER's next chapter. They are neither a rehash of Scandinavian black metal motifs, nor are they devotees of the AGALLOCH school of post-black metal, as some of their American black metal colleagues are.

The album has a vicious sound and a near-relentless pace. Yet there is the grandiosity of EMPEROR in the mix as well. NIGHTBRINGER is less a classically-inspired black metal album and more esoteric chaos and uncertainty, created by the layered riffs and countermelodies of guitarists Naas Alcameth, Ophis and VJS. The viciousness makes its presence felt in opener "As Wolves Among Ruins". Menthor's frantic drumming moves the song forward at a whirlwind pace, and Ar-Ra'd al-Iblis joins Naas Alcameth and Ophis in giving powerful vocal performances.

The intensity and strangeness of the music holds up well during the first half of the album. "Misrule" is both majestic and chaotic, with cold tremolo riffs swirling above Menthor's stormy blast beats. The tempo is taken down a notch on "Of the Key and Crossed Bones" and a sinister atmosphere is conjured by the keyboard melodies and sinister basslines. Norgaath's bass is audible throughout the album; unfortunately, many black metal albums don't share this trait. "Let Silence Be His Sacred Name" is a highlight - it opens with a sombre piano melody, then proceeds to blow the listener away with some especially vicious riffs. The vocals are inhuman, and the guitars stellar. The pace slows down to a doom-like tempo which contrasts with the fast-picked riffs. The guitars hint at what's to come, when things speed up again, thus sucking everything into the musical vortex.

Despite creating an atmosphere of chaos, none of the musical parts get smothered, even when the guitars take centre stage. Unfortunately, things get a bit repetitive towards the end, apart from "Let Silence Be His Sacred Name" and instrumental "The Lamp of Inverse Light", which have a different musical approach to the other tracks.

Ultimately, the relatively minor faults of "Terra Damnata" don't take away from its being a great dose of primal, yet atmospheric black metal. Here, there is beauty in chaos and harmony in cacophony.