In the rise of the Finnish Black Metal scene at the end of the 80s, it was an ‘answer of what was happening on Norway, Sweden, Greece and others, and bands as IMPALED NAZARENE and BEHERIT couldn’t think of what would rise from their musical efforts. Today, to speak of Finnish Black Metal is to have in mind a solid scene with excellent names as AZAGHAL, ...AND OCEANS, BARATHRUM, MOONSORROW, THY SERPENT, BEHEXEN, TRUE BLACK DAWN, ENOCHIAN CRESCENT and many more, all of them bearing the Finnish Metal DNA. And of course that there’s a space for NOCTURNAL SORCERY on such team as “Captive in the Breath of Life” shows it clearly.

Although no info is given about who the band worked with on the studio to conceive the album, it has that old and good ‘do it yourself’ sensation filling the album, what explains the band’s option for something in the most classic way possible on Black Metal sonorities: raw, organic and that can cause chills to run down the spine of the hearers. But not fuzzy, so it’s easy to understand what is being musically expressed (and even the artwork depicts their classic Black Metal ways). Technically simple and full of a nasty and raw energy, it’s clear that the quartet works on a classic trench into Black Metal, but always in a way that depicts their nationality (once more: as one hearer becomes experienced and trained, it’s possible to have an idea from what country the band comes just by hearing to it). It’s that good way of playing Old School Finnish Black Metal, filled with that morbid and nasty energy and many darkened hooks. It’s what a Black Metal fan asks for.

All the songs have their value and it’s just a matter of listening to them. But “Oath at Mt. Hermon” (a thunderous and technically simple song based on a solid rhythmic work of bass guitar and drums), “Cry of the Wounded Heaven” (it’s impossible to not surrender to its classic Black Metal appeal, and what lovely hooks are created by the guitars’ arrangements and riffs), “Captive in the Breath of Life” (a long song with many darkened contrasts on the rhythms, with very good shrieks on the vocals), “Beyond Salvation” (another one with that classic simple technical appeal), “Redemption at Daybreak” (a fast and furious song with Old School tempos, with shrieks and guitars entangling to create that morbid appeal of the genre), and “Lucifer’s Shade” form the set of those that is impossible to resist to.

If the readers are looking for some classic Black Metal, the name of NOCTURNAL SORCERY is what you’re looking for. Listen to “Captive in the Breath of Life”, and enjoy!