Baden, Germany's NYX play Black Metal in its purest, rawest form. The duo's debut demo, "Satis", laid the foundations for some great music to come. Rooted in Black Metal, but with some noticeable progressive flourishes, it certainly won over anyone who heard it. Now, three years later, the band have finally released their debut full length, "Home", a record that builds upon the many strengths of "Satis", creating a dark, interesting record that could bring them to much wider audiences and acclaim.

The opening effort, "Beyond", practically jumps out of the speakers, launching immediately into a vicious Black Metal assault. There's a lot of sharp, jarring chords interjected between the more classic Black Metal sound, and some clean vocal lines in among the hideous shrieks that belies the progressive edge in the bands sound. It's a great way to open this record, and really sets the bar high early on. "Chaos Pt.20- Black Isle", is another unrelentingly aggressive piece of Black Metal, complete with juggernaut drumming and some buzz-saw riffs. The acidic snarl that makes up the bulk of the vocal lines cuts through the mix and commands the listeners attention. It links flawlessly into the following track, "Chaos Pt.38- Metastases", which, as the name suggests, is the previous tracks companion on this record. It's just as powerful as the previous track, with cacophonous, chaotic guitar lines and some much more reserved, mid-paced sections that work just as well.

The fourth song on here, "Prelude", acts as a much shorter piece of ambient music, which helps to break the album up somewhat in between the more ferocious offerings on here. It gradually builds up, and raises the listeners expectations for what's coming next. "Save O.ur S.ouls", the track that follows it, is one of the best songs on the record. This track may not be one of the longest on the record, but it sounds absolutely monolithic at points, especially in its opening moments. It's got some really thick, confident guitar lines and authoritative drums alongside varied vocals that help keep the song interesting and make a nice change from the aggressive speed driven music that makes up the first three offerings.

"Deep" continues down this musical route, with some more progressive edges thrown in to break up the darker Black Metal side of this tune. For the most part, this is another mid-tempo affair, although there are some moments when the music gets whipped into a frenzy of thrashing guitars and pummeling drumming. "Going On" incorporates a lot of melodic guitar lines and dissonant chords to great effect, without sacrificing the brutality that lies at the core of their sound. The melodic natures that are applied at this point sounds great, and it's a shame that it hasn't come to prominence earlier on the album, because it works really well.

The titular, penultimate track on here, "Home", is yet another slab of really vicious, visceral Black Metal, made up of some really sharp, faster sections, and much eerier, mid-tempo guitar lines. Although it isn't a bad track by any means, it certainly the sort of climactic moment that the second to last song usually is on a record. It's an excellent song, but doesn't really prepare the listener adequately for the final track on the album. The final song on here, "Swallowed Screaming", is a much different track than the eight that preceded it. It's based around some really cool, imaginative acoustic guitar music, with clean, catchy vocals. Some of the elements that made up the majority of this album seep into this much more serene offering, from a few dissonant guitar lines, and some sparse use of harsher vocals. It's like the clam after a storm, and it's a great, memorable way to finish the record.

This is not your standard Black Metal release. Whereas many bands find a formula that they like and tend to stick to it, NYX are not ones for dwelling on a sole musical theme throughout the whole record. There's plenty of raw, violent sounding music, along with some much slower, measured pieces of music, along with a myriad of other components which make this album sound amazing. It's clear at points just where this bands musical identity might head in the future, with a few progressive touches alluding to what listeners might be in store for at some point down the line. It's certainly a varied and eclectic album, and it will be interesting to hear what NYX follow this record with.