NOCTURNES MIST is a black metal act from Adelaide, South Australia. Formed in 1997, Nocturnes Mist went through several lineup changes. They released their fourth full-length titled "Marquis of Hell" on June 13, 2019. The album contains eight ferocious and chaotic black metal tracks. As usual with the underground black metal scene, the band is deeply mysterious and this is the first record I've heard from them. Let's start with the title of the album. Marquis (spelled Marquess in British) is a nobleman ranking above a count and below a duke who is usually a war hero and possesses prominent power. The title itself reveals the beast behind the album; it's a powerful entity from hell.

The intro, "Abyssus" is a short track consisting of ominous whispers coming from the burning souls in hell. Although I'm not a fan of such starters, this track unleashes the obscure, sinister identity of the album. "Eyes in Fear" starts with aggressive guitars and blast beats on drums and as it title suggests, brings you the chaotic nature of hell. The journey continues to "Cursed", which is my favourite track from the album. I like the song because of its slower tempo and the melodies heard in the middle. "War Machine" is a good example of War Metal (aka Bestial Black Metal). Knowing the lyrics to "Wolves of Satan", which is my other favourite song in the album, would be lovely but probably unkvlt and unneeded; I'm satisfied as long as I hear the words Satan and Hell enough times.

The B-side of (the cassette version) of the album starts with "Marquis of Hell" and is more chaotic and dissonant than the A-side. The last two tracks represent chaotic black metal but I feel they are as rich in songwriting as the first half of the album. Overall, this is a decent try to create a mysterious black metal album, but I'm afraid it's going to be lost in the huge flood of albums released in this genre every day.