Nouveau Gloaming

The first song on this album is the least ambitious and most conventional black metal song on here, containing only a few hints of the avant-garde explorations that consume the rest of the album. But it's also one of the catchiest black metal songs I've ever heard-- caustic and completely compelling, with vocals that could seer flesh. If the album continued in this way for its entire length, it would be one of my favorite black metal albums ever. I'm a huge fan of "experimental" metal, and it's very unusual that I would like the most straightforward song on an album the best. But alas, the rest of this album bores me for the most part, despite its strong avant-garde leanings. I like the vocals, which alternate between a strange crooning something like those in Ved Buens Ende (it may in fact be the same vocalist) and the same harsh vocals from the first song. And the guitar tone is great, nice and atmospheric, with some interesting chords. The bass also has some nice moments, even adding to the melodies at times. But the music in general is too plodding and repetitive to be completely compelling. I don't really see too many elements to this music, just a nice weird guitar tone, playing slow gloomy passages over and over, with interesting vocals over top. They need to mix it up a bit more, I think, maybe throw a few faster sections in with all the gloomy slow stuff. It's supposed to be the "new wave of black metal" or something, but it falls flat for me. The music can be very atmospheric, but none of it is particularly new or exciting. Ved Buens Ende covered the same ground much more effectively years ago. The problem lies in the repetitveness of the music, which saps it of any energy. Even the seering vocals fail to give the proceedings any momentum.

are a supergroup spanning across two continents with members of Dodheimsgard, Ved Buens Ende, Ulver, Arcturus and Void in their lineup. This is a perfect example of the third wave of black metal which has slowly been emerging for quite some time. Third wave bands feel as if traditional black metal is becoming overdone and add their own outside influences twisting black metal into fresh new shapes. In 's case they mix rocky black metal like Khold with Opeth's progressive structures and clean vocals similar to that of Katatonia. Apart from the solid opener and soft closer 'Nouveau Gleaming' seems split in two halves with their experimental work at the start and more basic songs toward the end. It seems like are trying to fit as many different influences in this albums 53 minute duration as they possibly can. This works to some extent and if it werent for the split album structure would end up sounding disorientated. Many words will be said about , some praise and some criticism but all in all 'Nouveau Gleaming' is quite an enjoyable album which will grow on you. The only thing I didnt like about this album is some of the clean vocals. promise and almost deliver something exceptional and I recommend anybody into slower black metal who isnt too purist to check out .

Alright, so after listening to this album quite a few times and enjoying myself a lot, I looked up on the web to check the info, discography, etc. It appears that "Nouveau Gleaming" is Code's first full-length release, and they've only released a demo in the past. The members have also been in other BM/Industrial BM bands such as Void and Reign of Erebus, two other bands which i've never heard of. The fact that impressed me the most was that these guys are from the UK. We all know it, most BM bands that come out of the UK are usually shit, except of course for a few big names (Anaal Nathraakh, etc). But even then, AN's latest album wasn't really that good, they released their legendary album in 2001. This is probably one of the best UK BM albums ever released, and certainly one of the best BM releases so far this year.

Apart from the amazing guitar riffs and very raw production (which sometimes reminded me of Anaal Nathrakh, to be honest), what sets this band apart is the use of different vocals, a type that is rarely used in BM nowadays. Choiristic chants? No. Female vocals? No. Simply spoken words. No, none of that "Once upon a time, in a dark and gloomy valley, a warrior.." This singing/spoken word type of vocal featured in the intro of "Brass Dogs" really enhance the experience to make a very dark and somewhat sad atmosphere. However, there are still a shitload of harsh and screamed vocals on this release to satisfy the casual BM listener.

Guitar-wise, Code also does many things to explore the genre. While most BM bands nowadays stick to the same old minimalistic riffs that have been done thousands of times before, this band has no rules and no limits - they experience with tempo changes, melodic riffs, etc. And I have to say the final result is something that pushes the limits of modern BM (not in an extreme kvlt and n3kr0 way), and all this while keeping a very raw tone which should please fans of any wave of bm - be it the first, second, or third (ok, i'm not a BM wave expert but you see the point, I don't even know if there's a third BM wave). Get this if you're open-minded and aren't afraid of hearing different BM.