Pulvis. Cinis. Cultus

Nachtruf's second demo 'Schattengeister' was one of the most impressive efforts from one of the local acts here in Austria. Right, not the first country that comes to mind when thinking about proper executed and also innovative BM. I'd even dare to say it was one of the very best pieces of black metal throughout the last years with a very individual and strong approach emerging from the soil of central Europe!
Their latest demo 'Pulvis.Cinis.Cultus' (dust. ash. worship/cult) seems to me as the perfect continuation of Nachtrufs previous contributions.


Once more they have managed to arrange a great balance between quite fast paced stormy drumming with 'icy' riffing creating awesome melodies and more mid paced drumming rhythmic sections - this time even some real slow doomy parts - developing melodies full of melancholy and despair.
It's the simplicity in their playing style - by no means that raw/necro/butchery style of BM though ! - in conjunction with the astonishing ability (or should I say intuition?) to create awesome and almost melodramatic melodies and a specific soundscape, making you feel a cold shiver running down your spine - without being too playful or solemn!


Except for some pre- / interludes no keys are used for the actual tracks. As their label's promo info says - you really could compare their sound style with Kadotus - which I think is a very positive standard of comparison - Nachtruf being more diverse regarding song structures though.
Regarding production values it's a huge step forward. Vocals and drumming fit perfectly with the skillfully played guitar layers. Like before the vocals show a certain amount of reverb which is a totally suitable effect with regards to the overall feeling. Voices sound like they are echoing from walls of caverns or catacombs - thus creating a mysterious and 'nocturnal' atmosphere. From time to time there occur ambient / instrumental passages mainly consisting of kind of blurred and heavily distorted slow guitar sections combined with eerie keyboard sounds or even a chant like vocal singsong evoking a distant and nightmarish ambiance. Along with aforementioned warped and somewhat twisted guitar sounds you get a mystic and in way 'occult' overall feeling while listening to this material.


For me one of the most outstanding moments on p.c.c. comes up when the main theme of chapter 1 (no actual song titles are used) - after several minutes of fast and straight forward playing - is woven into the following slowly played part with more distorted and doomy sounding riffing. Amazing stuff - without being too pathetic for BM standards !


To sum it up: Pulvis.Cinis.Cultus turns out to be a bit more diverse than its predecessor - still being a straight piece of black metal with loads of really majestic melodies, some slowly played guitar parts in between and an overall dark ambiance through some amounts of atmospheric interludes.
Far away from being another rip-off Nachtruf released once again a demonstration of high quality contemporary black metal with an occult touch and a strong individual note.

Highly recommended!