Doomed to Die

At the turn of the century kvlt black metal act Moonblood folded leaving Tino "Occulta Mors" Mothes without any main project. Even if Nachtfalke (German for Night Falcon) was initiated in '97 and a few demos and splits surfaced thereafter the band probably didn't become a priority until the Moonblood split. Since then Tino has issued six full-length albums, and while I've only heard his second outing, 'Doomed to Die,' I can quite easily say this is a worthwhile project that deserves more attention.

Where Moonblood was raw, evil in character and straight forward black metal, Nachtfalke focuses in on more epic atmospheres while still retaining that under produced quality that all real black metal should have. Forgoing the Satanic aspects of his previous project, Nachtfalke uses Norse mythology as a lyrical source as well as Germanic Paganism.

Opening song, 'Valhall' opens with the sounds of swords clashing, horses and men howling and a demonic narrator introducing the listener to the world of Nachtfalke. About a minute in a piercing cold riff enters, always creating the effect of something massive on the horizon. Before long pummeling drums and cymbal crashes decimate when eventually Occulta's raspy shrieks take over, but surprisingly there's also a mixture of clean vocals in an oddly very catchy chorus. The song itself is really the perfect merger of utterly raw black metal with Viking touches and I'd honestly be lying if I said this song was anything less than a masterpiece. 'Pestkrieg' is slower in tempo and really focuses in on the epic characteristics and is comparable to later period Graveland in a way, while 'One Home of Once Brave,' which is a Bathory cover, is fairly similar to the original, though I like it better since Mr. Mors' clean vocals don't sound completely silly as Quorthon's did on that album. 'Fallen Heroes' opens with a very Viking-era Bathory-ish riff before returning to the more pulverizing nature of the first song, with varying tempos of course throughout, whereas the final song, 'Einherjer (Doomed to Die),' is the albums slowest cut, but quite majestic in its overall style and the inclusion of some otherworldly synths really brings it to the next level.

As a whole the album is just thirty five minutes long, which is rather short for the style presented, but all five songs are absolutely excellent so I really don't have room to complain. For whatever reason I've never checked out the bands other albums, but other reviews seem to suggest quality the whole way through. Definitely an album to check out, especially if the idea of a more epic Moonblood sounds right to you.

Originally published at Lunar Hypnosis: http://lunarhypnosis.blogspot.com

Nachtfalke, yet another band from Occulta Mors of famous Moonblood fame (famous for black metal, at least)
Unlike Moonblood, this project revolves around Norse mythology, Vikings, and the like, and does it well. As you may expect the production here is fairly bad, guitars are thin as a string, bass is audible at times, drums are beefy but don't provide a whole lot of variation. The drums sort of just plod along giving a focal point for the guitars to follow and not much else, full of blast beats and slower basic parts. Vocals are standard fare you have your black metal-esque raspy vocals, mixed higher than the guitars and drums, sometimes getting some clean vocals in a chorus type way, riding high above the rest of the instruments triumphantly very reminiscent of Bathory. But just because they're standard doesn't mean they're bad, they work quite well here and the clean vocals sound great for instance on Valhalla.

One of my main problems with this release is the guitar sometimes gets drowned out in the mix, and its a shame because there's some really fantastic riffs on here. Take for example track #2 Pestkrieg, some of them just don't really stand out well. Another thing that I have a problem with, while it isn't really the music its self its the Home of the Once Brave cover. Now, this would normally be fine on a release longer than..35 minutes, but here when you have 35 minutes of music and 6 of those minutes consist of a cover that doesn't give you a lot to work with. The cover does justice to Bathory, vocals are monotonous and the guitars, once again get drowned out at points.

Generally this album ranges from mid tempo black metal, to some short fast parts. some solo's are thrown in such as the beginning of Fallen Heroes, and Valhalla. Fallen Heroes starts off slow and mournful, reminding you of Moonblood perhaps, then quickly falls into a chaotic swarm of blast beats and howling vocals. The riff here is slow and it sounds great against the drums. Once again, as you may expect most of the riffs on this album are tremolo picked, sometimes with a clean soaring guitar lick. The bass you can actually decipher however. While it isn't much, it provides a nice backbone for the guitar.

The last song, Einherjer (Doomed To Die), is a slow melodic song and the production works in its favour here. Great atmosphere, slow drums, lots of good riffs. At first I thought I was hearing a keyboard but maybe its the guitar? I'm not sure, whatever it is it sounds good. That's the thing with production like this, sometimes you have to guess what instrument you're actually listening to, bad or good thing it makes everything a bit more interesting. This song stays slow the whole way through, with a couple drum fills here and there keeping with the melodic guitar lines.

Basically, if you love Bathory and think that Hammerheart or Twilight of the Gods isn't raw enough for you, and you love Moonblood this is for you. If you're easily turned off by bad production, maybe skip this one. I'm not saying this album would benefit from better production, that certainly is not the case. This would just sound wrong with clean production. I just think it falls short on giving enough material to work with, clean vocals are definitely good enough to be used more because they are sort of sparse through this album and it's a shame.

Either way, a worthy release for Black or Viking metal fans alike.

Sometimes I wish all Viking based metal was this awesome. Sure your more death metal based bands like Amon Amarth are also great for headbanging to, but when it comes to Black Metal that is based on nordic paganism it is often a rather disappointing affair. The use of folky melodies is something that fits well into the more light metal genres, but the pure energy and raw quality of this album make [probably] the best album in the viking-subsection of black metal.

The production is horrendous, and you know what, it's still ***ing awesome. The guitars sound like dry static, the bass rumbles on in an undefined blur, and the drums are dominated by indistinct cymbals. Usually this would suck and create the picture that the band are amateurs using the bad production to hide the lack of song writing skill. Well right from the get go we know this is not the case on this CD. Valhall, the opener, is an extremely energetic track, full of great lyrics paired with fast melodic tremolo riffs and a memorable clean-vocal-tinged chorus. Excellent songwriting is apparent right away, and it holds throughout all five songs. The riffs of PestKrieg (especially the theme, doubled by an unusually audible bass) are of a very high caliber as well and this standard is held throughout the album.

I think if it weren't for the brevity of this album, along with the kinda cheesy guitar solo that introduces "Fallen Heroes", then I would be very tempted to give the album a 5. It succeeds on so many levels, it takes the terrible production and somehow turns it into a positive aspect. I dunno why but after a couple of listens I began to love the production on this album, squeaky clean sound would definitely not suit the music. The vocals are also extremely well executed, especially the Bathory cover (Home of Once Brave) showcases some of the excellent clean vocals that are done by Occulta Mors (known by many for his previous band, Moonblood). Speaking of Moonblood (and leading to the inevitable comparison) Nachtfalke is as good, if not better, than the best of the Moonblood material (such as "My Evil Soul" and "Blut und Krieg"). The production is far more balanced instrument wise, and also far more treble is in the mix which gives the guitars a great buzzing edge (the guitars do take getting used to).

Lyrics on the album are great as well. Sure the whole Viking thing can get cheesy, but the lyrics here are about as tasteful as you will get and the backing music really lends the lyrics the intense background and fury that is needed to make them effective. The vocal delivery is also on par, switching between clean and harsh vocals, and finding a good balance. There is also a good amount of balance in the guitar work with lots of lead melodies in the music and harmonic work between the guitar parts. The riffing does not even get close to the monotonous nature of most black metal but still stays true to the feel of the genre. A very well crafted album if I may say so.