Nachtgedacht

Carpe Noctem is the second band that belongs to the Blodmorfogh/NeoKlasSick rooster I'm looking into. Well, actually the third, but since I encountered Fäulnis long before I knew of their relation, I can't count them, can I? Now that I'm thinking about it, I know about Carpe Noctem a lot longer than I thought, or at least parts of it. In 2008 the band's former bass player/singer committed suicide by causing a car accident after cutting of his girlfriend's head with a machete and setting her body on fire. That made it on the news back then and while I was skimming through the archive's RIP section I encountered it a second time and without actively searching for the bands he played in, that was my first contact with this band. Not a very positive one, but morbid me got instantly hooked.

Carpe Noctem was formed back in 1997 by four guys in their early 20s in northern Germany and the lineup should last until shortly before the band's split. Karathorn and Galeff left the band and shortly after that the remaining members announced the band's death. The project lived for about 7 years and was able to record the demo "Days of Dark Winter" (1998) and the full-length "Nachtgedacht" (2003) within those years. The later will be the topic of this review and looking at the cover art, you might already know what to expect. The band offers 8 songs of pretty solid underground black metal that gets enhanced with a fair amount of viking-like keys and vocals here and there. The overall sound of this album is pretty fitting, keeping a pretty raw "underground" edge while leaving every instrument the space to be noticeable. You know, it's not top notch, but it could've been a lot worse and it does the job of creating a sinister feeling that also enfolds a norse atmosphere in several occasions and doesn't hurt your ears in any way. Well, at least if you're used to black metal.

The drums are constantly pounding, unleashing muffled blasts, with a bass drum that actually sounds like a bass drum, throbbing snares and fancy cymbals. Here and there they add some interesting rhythms and pace changes that keep one focused and on topic. Nothing too fancy, this is black metal not some poser pop rock, haha. The guitars are pretty basic too for the vast majority of the album. Raw, cold riffs get paired with a pretty solid, dark bass line to layer the sound a bit and creating depth while also adding some nice progression. Yet, the main task of the guitars is to create a wall of repetitive old-school riffs in the 90s Norwegian style, sounding a bit like a more thrashy version of "Under a Funeral Moon"-era Darkthrone or Mayhem and are easily creating the wanted atmosphere. Sometimes that thick riffing gets paired with some eerie Bathory-like keyboards that create some sort of choral element and really add a pinch of viking to the band's sound. Combine that with some majestic clean vocals, slow down the guitars and enjoy the nordic ambience the band creates within parts of "In der Nacht bei den Gedanken". Those sparkles of fresh wind are actually really enjoyable, give the album a different tone and mellow the straight forward black metal a fair bit.

Where there are instruments, there most likely are vocals, too. Those present themselves in a harsh stertorous way leading down the 90s path once again. Aggression and hate with some dark mysterious sprinkles dominate the singer's choice of style. And they are performed pretty good, really going under my skin and even the little punkish vibes in some faint moments are pretty enjoyable. They are really putting the dark, philosophical and hateful lyrics in the right light. Those raspy screams fit into the album extremely well, having some missed notes on a regular basis and a bad breathing technique, but it creates a pretty edgy and threatening sound. Once the keyboards strike in the vocal range becomes more varied, includes epic clean vocals in the vein of "Hammerheart-era Bathory or even Menhir without going too far out on a limb. The lyrics are my main issue on the release. While they are trying to be philosophically while remaining very direct and straight forward they often become cringy and don't seem to be thought through that well. They don't suck by any means, they just don't feel right in some parts, but that fits the music in a way I can't describe. They also use a lot of spoken-word samples to introduce the songs that add some nice dark quotes and insights on the song's overall theme and concept while also being there just for the sake of being there. I wouldn't have missed them if they weren't there, I guess, but having them is actually beneficial for the overall experience which (in general) is rarely the case. So congrats to them for achieving that.

The band's songwriting is in its core very basic old-school black metal with progressions and riff changes that are mostly fluent but sometimes pretty rough and unpredicted. Nevertheless it is solid. Suffering from a little bit of amateurism, but solid. There is nothing special, nothing outstanding besides those keyboards and clean vocals, it just does the job, gets over with it and moves on. Focusing on 90s black metal mainly inspired by Darkthrone and some Bathory here and there leaves this a pretty solid release I really enjoy now and then. If you're a fan of that you should easily dig this.