ORDER OF NOSFERAT is a Vampiric Black Metal duo out of Germany. On February 28, 2021 they are set to release their debut full-length album, "Necuratul" on Purity Through Fire. The album comprises 11 tracks spanning forty-three minutes. The tracks alternate from Ambient Dungeon to SWBM. The heavy tracks are searing and raw; the ambient pieces are brooding and pensive - it's a dark alchemy with powerful results.

"Necuratul" is Romanian for "the unclean," which ties in nicely with the obvious theme of the band as well as the album. I was bit skeptical going in. I mean, vampires, really? But, hey, this is a really good album. The production gives off this scratchy, analog, black and white vibe that gives you the feeling the album was recorded in an abandoned castle, at night, in the dead of winter, in 1448. The alternating tracks rather than being disruptive provide a sense of story progression which the song titles clearly signpost.

The album is interwoven with a dark melody which surfaces on the first track and haunts the remaining tracks like a cold fever. It's all at once soothing and worrisome - like the night it was born from. The ambient tracks are not simple acoustic numbers, or even ambient grayscapes, but multi-layered orchestrations of instruments, tempos, and contours. While the production hovers in the mid and low ranges, it never sounds muddled or compressed but somehow comes across as expansive . . . which of course is a credit to the musicianship as well as the sound engineering.

I'm torn between which side of the divide I prefer: the moody ambient or the visceral attacks. The answer is both. My favorite heavy tracks are "Servant of Orlok," "Necuratul," and "As Light Withered My Skin." All three have riffage that is so compelling and mean that your neighbors will be soon be at your door with torches and pitchforks. As far as the atmospheric pieces, "Awaiting his Arrival," "Empusas Deadly Freight" (trans: pushes deadly freight), and "Behold the Pale Lord" top my list. "At Dawn," a surprising cover from the Russian rock band ALYANS, is also solid. This version forgoes the lyrics (although they would have fit really well with the vampire theme), dumps the New Wave schtick, and draws the dark essence out of this song like its very lifeblood.

Not sure if this is going to be a one-shot project for Count Revenant and Anzillu, or if they're in it for the long haul. Either way, "Necuratul" is an incredible debut for ORDER OF NOSFERAT. Vampiric Black Metal, sign me up. And I'm not just saying that to placate the long shadows that have appeared in my hall or the scraping at my second story window.