Нехристь

"Nechrist" is probably the most peculiar record in Nokturnal Mortum's catalogue, simply because it's different from anything else they've done. This is by far their angriest, fastest, darkest and most aggressive record, and as such it's often labelled as "messy" or "chaotic": while it might result a bit difficult to digest during the first listens, "Nechrist" is a grower, and its beauty will slowly unfold to the listener each time he comes back to it. The album's production is quite raw, making a bit difficult to distinguish the fastest guitar patterns at times; the riffs generally consist in the traditional black metal tremolo picked frenzy, although slower sections are obviously present, with some interesting bridges here and there (the "breakdown" found at the end of "Night Before the Fight" is simply amazing). The bass isn't always audible, but where you can hear it you can say its patterns are definitely interesting. The drumming is astonishing, a real storm of blast beats and relentless double bass drumming, thus confirming Munruthel as the most technical drummer this band has ever laid its hands on.

The keyboards sound much more Emperor-influenced than in the previous band's efforts, especially when it comes to the orchestrations. This record generally contains two kind of songs: the first kind consists in extremely fast black metal assaults, much more assimilable to traditional Norwegian black metal than to the typical Nokturnal Mortum song, eventually with sudden inclusions of folk instruments in the traditional Slavonic fashion. Such songs include the album opener, "Night Before the Fight", "The Call of Aryan Spirit", "Death Damnation" and so on. The second kind of songs is much more folk-oriented and sounds like a darker and more aggressive version of the usual Nokturnal Mortum we all know and love; these songs are definitely the best found in the platter, and they include masterpieces such as "Black Raven", "In the Fire of Wooden Churches" and "Perun's Celestial Silver". The aforementioned tracks also tend to be less chaotic and more oriented towards a songwriting formula favoring crescendos and epic rather than sheer fury and aggression.

The vocal department sees Knjaz providing one of his best performances, his screams sounding rabid and furious like never before; also, spot on the clean sung female vocals found here and there during the folk parts, a beautiful feature found only in this particular record and that unfortunately the band never replicated. All in all, I think that "Nechrist" is yet another excellent Nokturnal Mortum record, one that has just been misunderstood by some simply because it's radically different from the rest of the band's discography: it may be a bit chaotic, long or difficult to digest the first time you listen to it, but the more you plunge into it, the more you'll be rewarded, finding a new finesse to enjoy each time. It's dark, atmospheric and unique, and it truly conveys that gloomy Carpathian atmosphere the band was seeking to obtain. A real must for any Nokturnal Mortum fan, or for all those who enjoy Slavonic black metal bands.

A little over a year after their previous effort, To Gates of Blasphemous Fire, Nokturnal Mortum were once again back in the black metal spotlight with NeChrist (which translates to heathen), an album that has garnered its fair share of both positive and negative reception since its initial release in 1999. The album is often seen as the most uneven in the Nokturnal Mortum catalog and is said by many to be an incoherent mess made worse by the band’s adoption of National Socialist views on songs like “The Call of Aryan Spirit”. Despite its detractors, the album also has its fair share of fans that cite it as being one of Nokturnal Mortum’s best releases in their entire catalog.

As stated before, the sound on NeChrist has been described as disjointed and incoherent by many. This is somewhat true. The tone of the album changes very sporadically, not only from song to song, but inside of the songs themselves. The first song, “Black Raven”, for example, starts off with a Ukrainian folk intro before launching into a flurry of blast beats and synths reminiscent of the ones found on the bands previous effort. After about a minute and a half of this, the song goes into a folk part that comes out of nowhere and completely changes the tone before once again going into an extremely fast black metal riff. NeChrist does stuff like this constantly. It often goes from symphonic parts, to parts with tremolo picked riffs and blast beats/double bass, to folk parts, and back at random. While this may sound like a bad thing, it actually works quite well. It makes the album not only unpredictable, but just interesting overall. NeChrist actually has a lot of variety which was something that the previous album lacked.

As far as musicianship goes, Nokturnal Mortum never disappoint. As previously stated, the album contains a lot of fast riffs and drumming. Both of these aspects of the album are excellently preformed. Nokturnal Mortum’s drummer at the time, who goes by the pseudonym Munruthel, plays extremely fast blast beats and double bass throughout the entire album. The drums on the album are recorded quite well, so it is easy to hear almost everything he is playing at all times. Knjaz Varggoth’s vocals and guitar playing are also both excellently executed, however, the guitar tone is a bit strange. The guitar tone on NeChrist is very bass heavy and thick. Because of this, the riffs can sometimes be hard to clearly make out in the more chaotic parts of the album, but the production on them is still quite passable for black metal and works well with the heavier sections of the album. The bass on the other hand, like with many metal albums, is completely inaudible save for the song “Death Damnation” where the band decided to make it louder than every other instrument in the mix. A strange choice, but the bass lines are interesting so it works. Like with the previous two Nokturnal Mortum albums, NeChrist has two keyboardists performing on it, however due to a lack of focus on the symphonic aspects of the previous two albums, they are not fully utilized on the album. When they are used, their contributions to the music are solid, albeit sometimes hard to make out clearly due to the production.

Despite the random nature of the album, NeChrist is actually quite consistent in its disjointedness. All of the songs sound similar both in production and songwriting making it hard to really talk about specific songs. One of the only songs that really changes the formula is "NeChrist: The Dance of the Swords” which is a lot slower than the rest of the album and reminds me of the polish black metal band Graveland. Other standouts include “The Child of Swamps and Full Moon” and the infamous “The Call of Aryan Spirit” which both contain excellent riffs and songwriting.

Despite its faults, NeChrist is still a very unique album that deserves the attention of anyone who is a fan of Nokturnal Mortum or black metal in general. It’s not for everyone but if you can get past the unusual production and NS views that the band had at the time, NeChrist is a great listen.

Originally written for www.sputnikmusic.com under my alternate username.

Wow, where to start...

This album is a complete literal mess. It's incoherent to such an extent that it sounds like a random lunchtime rehearsal improvisation. As if someone told these guys: "we need an album recorded in 2 hours, now go".

Musical themes change and clash with each other throughout songs without any structure. There are pure black metal aggressive passages, then suddenly for 10 seconds there is a symphonic inclusion, then out of nowhere comes folk singing with fiddle and traditional Ukrainian dance "oo-ooh"s. It's just an incoherent mesh of all these, I can't call these pieces of music "songs", they sound more like one of those sampler tracks where they compile themes from different album tracks to showcase it in a medley.

Folk inclusions are extremely generic and forgettable. Again, they sound like improvisations on folk themes, rather than thought-through melodies. They sound cheesy and out of place, they aren't incorporated into songs, but more often used in intro / outro, or as a break within a song.

Ironically, instead of leaning on more recognizable kind of Ukrainian / Slavic traditional folk, these guys heavily employ fiddle, which came to Ukraine with Ashkenazi (Jewish) immigration. And it's not just the instrument itself, melodies are strikingly reminiscent of traditional Jewish folk (Klezmer) music. Singing about killing Jews while using folk music borrowed from Jewish tradition (and as another ironic fun fact, Jew's harp in a couple of instances) is just a whole new level of ridiculous.

Barring ~2 minutes of folk inclusions, this is quite a straightforward black metal. There are literally hundreds of bands who play this stuff, and you won't be able to distinguish one from another, just a mess of guitars and insane drumming with screaming vocals. It's uninteresting and gets old quickly...

Now, to the topic which has somehow became taboo to discuss in BM (or neofolk / martial industrial) community. Somehow people got used to apologizing before bringing up the fact that you think that band's political or moral stance is unacceptable. I didn't bring up this discussion, these guys with their inane texts dragged me into it and I feel full moral right to react to it appropriately. Lyrics is an integral component of their music and I can't just ignore it, and I don't think anyone should - they are bringing a message and it's clearly important to them.

Nokturnal Mortum are Nazi scum. There is no "but" or "maybe" or "their opinion" or "alternative interpretation" or whatever. And it is unacceptable. They directly and unambiguously incite violence towards people based on their genetic background. And this is not just something mentioned in passing - this is literally the only common theme for all the songs on this album, each and every one of them talks about Aryan blood and fighting enemies and pretty much in every song Jews are mentioned. It's a paranoid obsession and they aren't seeking medical help... Not to be unsubstantiated in my rant, here are some direct quotes:

"Spit in Jewish faces, cut them into pieces"
"Because they are not people, They are worms whose mission is only parasitism Let the Aryan spirit support us!"

I simply can't comprehend how a substantial number of people are staying in complete denial and talking about how they aren't Nazi but just "patriotic" or whatever. Really, it doesn't get more clear-cut than this.

Don't get me wrong, I listen to a lot of black metal and neofolk, and I'm not new to fascist or satanist imagery used in songs or artwork. Very often, I have absolutely no problem with it, just like I have no problem with an actor playing Hitler in a movie or atheists aggressively criticizing religions. But here is the point: Satanism and anti-Christianity are fine, but Nazism is not. Fight ideas, fight dogmas, that's OK. But hating (or loving) people based solely on the random event of their birth is just idiotic.

Still can't get over the fact that they use Jewish melodies... It's just so shockingly stupid, I can't even think what to say... oh god...

I do wonder what the band was trying to achieve when they were writing this album. I'd say it's a joke, where they're trying to derive humour from playing music that is intentionally awful but I can't be certain if this is the case, as so much effort has been put into being dreadful that it's entirely possible that they actually think this is good music that people wanted to hear. It's also possible that out of sheer hatred for the listener that they deliberately sought to craft the worst music imaginable. Regardless of their intent, this is a dreadful, offensively terrible album. It's not so much a step down from the two preceding Nokturnal Mortum full lengths as it is a tumble down 10 flights of stairs from them - it's a trainwreck which is full of ideas that are either too sloppily executed or stupid to ever work. Shit at its finest, thy name is NeChrist.

There are numerous glaring flaws with this album but the one that rises above all is how flat out... bad it sounds. The melodic sense of the riffs and keys is non-existent, with the melodies sounding like garbage throughout. Not a single riff will stick with you but the entire time a track is on they grate with how badly they're constructed. The keys are a similar story and are literally thrown on top of the riffs with zero regard for how they go together, and indeed they do not mesh in any way whatsoever. The two layers clash against one another in a very unlikeable way; it makes for truly ugly music in the worst possible sense. Don't get me wrong here; I have no issue with amelodic, dissonant or otherwise ugly and abrasive music but this clearly wasn't constructed as anything along the lines of Obscura and what not; it uses the same stylistic features of folk music and symphonic black metal as their past work while missing out on everything that makes those albums and the style as a whole appealing. Or to put it another way, they took their melody driven style and didn't write any good melodies for it. Since this is the fabric of the music, it is rendered entirely worthless and awful; the album is a total non-starter.

And even when the keys and riffs aren't grinding against one another (which seldom occurs) both manage to be wholly forgettable and bland; the same can be said of the overly simplistic, restrictive and generic thrash-inspired drumming (a substantial regression compared to the stellar drumming on Goat Horns) and the much weaker vocal performance that doesn't take charge in the music as it usually would. On top of this are the folk sections, which sound less like traditional Ukrainian folk music and more like bad Southern American folk music. These sections are all over these tracks and sound terrible every single time. Throw on top of this what sounds like elephant flatulence at some points and shouts of 'Yahoo!' at others and the album goes from absurdly awful-sounding to downright comical.

Have I made my point yet? This is complete trash and I never want to hear it again.

For the life of me, I cannot understand all of the hate for this album. I could understand if these reviewers were citing the lyrics and ideals presented, as they are pretty offensive. This group has some strong leanings towards white supremacy, among other things. But to discount the music as they have is unfair. Historically, there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of famous figures who were innovative geniuses despite having some strange or even violent philosophies. Furthermore, to be a black metal fan in many ways means an openness to all things offensive. How can we praise some groups who condone and even participate in church burnings and murder (Darkthrone, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, etc., etc., etc.), but then draw the line at racial discrimination?

With that out of the way, let’s discuss the music. This is by far Nokturnal Mortum’s most chaotic album. After the great, but ultimately business-as-usual release of Lunar Poetry, the group was ready to carve a more unique niche for itself. This process began with “Goat Horns” and “To the Gates…” However, “Nechrist” represents NM fully stepping away from Emperor-worship into a sound completely their own. Knjaz Varggoth has cited this as his favorite album due to the “preparation” the band apparently took that was beyond anything they had done previously. He also stated in interview that "To the Gates..." was disappointing to him due to obligations, so creative juices to step outside of the box were flowing at maximum.

If you have heard the last two albums, you have heard most of the elements at work here. There is the use of folky, upbeat interludes driven by strings and wind instruments. Your foot will be tapping, yet there is a delightful eeriness to it as well. I picture a carnival freakshow or a Satan-worshiping gypsy caravan. There is a strong use of synthesizers for ambiance and effect. Rather than creating a hook, these mostly serve to enhance the fullness of sound with haunting single chords. They make me think of soundtracks to early Stanley Kubrick films. The drums are all over the place ranging from tribal-sounding to blast beats. The bass guitar frequently jumps to the front of the mix while the guitar crunches along with the ugliest of distortion effects.

But unlike the most recent releases, all of these elements do not serve what I would call a progression. This is not the creation of a painstakingly painted landscape. This is an artist collecting the best paints available and chucking them at the canvas. The opening track does an excellent job setting the tone for what is to come. The creepy horn intro turns into the most tormented of screams without warning. This is Nokturnal Mortum meets Dillinger Escape Plan. The guitars move so fast it is difficult to keep up with what they are playing. The drummer sounds like he is taking speed. Then, there is a hillbilly ho-down. Next, about five different guitar and keyboard arrangements squeeze their way into 30 seconds of play time. There is an order to the chaos, but damned if it is within my comprehension to explain it. Time signatures will change frequently. “Yeehaw”-worthy ho-downs will become relentless, abrasive attacks of tremolo, shrieking, and blastbeats. Sometimes, as on the last track, these attacks will be paired simultaneously with the more upbeat moments to emphasize the sheer madness of duality.

Somehow, it all works. While this may lack some of the accessibility of their earlier releases, “Nechrist” provides an unmatched moment in their discography. While one could opt to listen to either “Weltanschauung” or “Voice of Steel” for pretty much the same effect (albeit a great one), Nechrist has no equal counterpart. It is this individuality that makes the album such an integral part of the collection. Give it a few spins and see what you think.

I recently revisited a string of old albums that helped get me into black metal years ago, this and Goat Horns being chief among them. After re-listening to both albums back-to-back and pretty much consecutively over the past 3 days, I have to say NeChrist is miles better than their debut or that weird Emperor worship they were doing on Gates of Blasphemous fire. There's still a good bit of keys reminiscent of In the Nightside Eclipse on this one, but there's a lot more stuff going on in between the low-fi synth-y parts.

NeChrist is one of the few albums I can think of that doesn't open up with one of the strongest tracks on the album. In fact, Funeral Wind born in Oriana is possibly my least favorite track on this otherwise stellar slab of blackened Slav metal, which opens up with what sounds like a trumpet of some sort and then blasts its way into a few bombastic passages and then some fiddling (which is present throughout the rest of the album) and then some kind of Appalachian hootenanny ensues. The real highlight of this album being the next track, the Night of the Fight, which features some pretty epic keys that compliment the riffing around 1:35 not to mention some vicious thrash vibes in between.

Other highlights from NeChrist include In the Fire of the Wooden Churches (especially the last minute or so where those awesome flute melodies show up again), the eery folk instruments (I think it's a flute of some sort, not entirely sure though) that show up on Jesus' Blood about 4 minutes in, all of Perun's Celestial Silver and as much as I hate to admit, the Call of Aryan Spirit is pretty badass in its entirety from the flute melodies and those savage riffs that show up around 3:00, I could do without the lyrics though. In the Nightside Eclipse keyboard effects really mesh well with the overall incorporation of folk instruments and both male and female clean singing which pops up on tracks like In the Fire.. and Perun's Celestial Silver

Nokturnal Mortum's NeChrist is probably my favorite album from their entire discography, and one of the few black metal albums that doesn't have a single track that lacks any kind of "hook" to it and is definitely one album worth filing under the category "Nazi metal that doesn't suck".

While many people are probably going to see this album as something of an atavistic slide for Nokturnal Mortum, replacing the technical brilliance, melodic creativity, and outright savagery of their last two releases with a kinder, gentler sound intent on exploring their own pagan/mythic origins and the music of their ancestry, I am actually convinced that nothing of that sort has happened here, and that this band has followed, with a ruthless determination, the program they set for themselves years ago as to the focus, motive, and defining purpose of their art. This album follows in a direct progression, on almost all fronts, the ideals, questions, and paths that the last album (the absolutely overwhelming 'To The Gates of Blasphemous Fire') set forth for this group of extremely original musicians. Listening to the two albums, the old and the new, back to back, should make this obvious to you. Last year's release mainly struck me as being original in the complicated (and at times, very technical) layering of dual keyboards over competing guitar riffs, and as such I was preparing myself for something that followed that light of composition even further: into Emperoresqe symphonic landscapes that would up the ante once again for all the keyboard-laden black metal groups across the world. Nokturnal have instead with this new release followed another guide that was just as readily apparent on their earlier albums as their technical innovations: their desire for incorporating folk melodies, ancient traditions, and the pagan spirit of their homeland into their music. So, in truth, this new album seems to swing masterfully between these two poles of motivation: on one hand we have the symphonic Nokturnal Mortum, intent as ever on burnishing their shocking black metal brutality with layered keyboard effects, smoothing a bright raiment of melodic peaks over the caustic clashings of the vulpine battery beneath it, or swallowing high-velocity lungings and dartings with echoing chambers of atmospheric bliss - and then we have a new Nokturnal Mortum, given to incorporating all kinds of different instruments (sampled or otherwise) and ritualistic patterns of folk music into their program for domination, not neglecting to pause or stop and breathe deeply the forgiving/soothing calm of melodies that, springing as they do from their own heritage and heartland, can not help but speak directly to the soul. It is a unique and strange combination, one that has been tried before with varying levels of success (see Graveland, Enslaved, Satyricon, etc.) but which has never, I believe, reached this depth of exploration, manipulation, and total immersion. Nokturnal Mortum, it can be said, have finally gone native.

While the main aspect of this album's atavism, as I mentioned it above, can be seen mainly in that term's positive aspect, referring as it does to the concentrated effort of these musicians to sink far down within their pagan/mythic roots and draw inspiration from those wells of creativity, it also is applied to the look and feel of this release. The cover art, the promo photos inside, and the production sound of this record immediately bring back something of the 'lost spirit' of black metal. The promo copy I was given reproduces everything in black and white (I'm not sure if the final version will be like this) and so the overall effect of this record's aesthetics is a concentrated reproduction of those first essential releases in the black metal movement that, for me, really defined the direction, effect, and possibilities of this form of music. I'm talking about Darkthrone here, of course. The album cover and back cover/tray insert pictures are directly reminiscent of 'Panzerfaust' or 'Under a Funeral Moon', and the total aesthetic effect of the packaging is purposely obscure, I feel, in the same manner as the packaging of Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, and bands of that principle. Pure underground, pure cult.

When it comes to the sound of this recording, the same aesthetics apply. The entire soundscape of these songs seems to be compressed, claustrophobic, and purposely obscured by a lack of direct instrument clarity or a monotone mixing. While not reducing the range of the instrumentation or the ability of the music to come through clearly (especially when played at high volume) this production creates an admirable atmosphere of its own. Again, this is something that can be linked to Darkthrone - the sound of the recording casts shadows all by itself, and when at certain times the keyboards fall away, of their own accord, the cutting, raw, and ravenous buzzsaw of the guitars takes center stage in a small defined space, seemingly buried far underground, making Nokturnal Mortum sound like the most vicious garage band on Earth.

The first track on this record, 'The Funeral Wind Born In Oriana', is a very good demonstration of the band's new concentration and purpose for this record, as it exchanges, in equal measure, the blasting black metal fury and dark atmospheres that they have become known for with passages of folk music superimposed over the flailing chaos of more traditional instrumentation. As the album progresses these two elements or musical directions are separated more and more, both within the body of the individual songs and in the structure of the album itself, so that an ample display of their different concentrations becomes more and more apparent. The second track, for example, 'Night Before The Fight', is almost a complete regression to their earlier style of combining an electrifying high speed maelstrom of metal severity with occult keyboard overtones and a stratified ambiance - there aren't really any folk elements to be found here. The most idiosyncratic and original part of this song is one thrash riff (first found at 1:06 into the song) which is metamorphosed, at the conclusion of the track (4:30 - with a false segue at 4:16, see if you catch it), into an agonizing and sadistic doom crawl and then sent through several variations, where different tiers of atmospherics are added one on top of another. This is truly inspired composing. The next track then takes the album back to its first real flirtation with folk music, as the initial two minutes are a rambling exploration of ritualistic chants, ethnic (for lack of a better word) singing, pealing aged strings, rusty chimes, raven calls, a jew's harp, and bracing tribal drumming. When the metal finally comes in, at 1:56, with stripped-down strident and stomping power riffing, punching bass, searing keyboards (with another great swirling and reverberating keyboard melody underneath the main synths that perfectly complements the rhythm of the song), and excoriating vocals spitting out lyrics filled with malice, the track truly becomes transcendent. Amazing.

Once again, I am filled with admiration for this groundbreaking and stubbornly original group of musical isolationists. Separated from the rest of the world, almost perversely secretive and close-mouthed about their own history or musical inspiration, this band proves that great music can be made in any place where ardent souls are intent on expressing their own true convictions with integrity and creativity. This album is easily one of the best black metal releases put out this year.

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

I don't think words currently exist in the English language to adequately describe how unbelievably fucking shitty 'NeChrist' is; merely describing it as being like the Holocaust would be a misnomer simply because at least the Holocaust was efficient, whereas Nokturnal Mortum go through one of the most convoluted and intricate processes I've ever seen to effectively put shit onto a CD. I would think that making music this terrible would require some insane Rube Goldberg contraption to harness the power of pure fucking tastelessness with which to drive their instruments, but perhaps even more remarkably, all evidence points to Nokturnal Mortum figuring this out ALL ON THEIR FUCKING OWN, which means both that they are geniuses and that they are possibly the worst people that have ever existed barring Kim Jong Il spawning progeny in the near future. This is completely, incalculably awful music, the likes of which not only shouldn't have been recorded, but shouldn't have been thought up in the first place. I imagine 'NeChrist' being described in a Lovecraftian manner: it's so horrific and so beyond mortal comprehension that one can't even BEGIN to describe it. You have to be fucking Yog-Sothoth himself and exist in seventeen fucking dimensions to grasp the absolute end of the shittiness of this record.

It's very bad.

It's certainly not the only flaw of this album (not by a long shot), but it's certainly the most horribly fucking egregious one: the folk sections. Nokturnal Mortum's music has always been folk-influenced to some degree, but it's only on 'NeChrist' that it blooms like an AIDS-infected flower all over the music. In an amazing turn of events, it turns out that shitty Ukrainian folk music sounds a great deal like shitty southern American folk music, you know, the sort of mind-bogglingly white trash shit you might hear while purchasing jugs labelled 'XXX' from a man with negative six teeth. Yes, 'NeChrist' is, in essence, a black metal hootenanny, with multiple exclamations of, I shit you not, "Yahoo!" to be heard on several tracks on this release. I don't care what beautiful cultural legacy Nokturnal Mortum is attempting to capture with this music: it's without a doubt some of the worst shit I have ever heard associated with the term 'metal', and its mere presence on the earth shakes my faith in humans being intrinsically good creatures to the very core. These folk passages aren't just bad, they express the sort of malice towards the listener that I thought was reserved by Slogun.

Above and beyond the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad folk passages, though, the symphonic black metal is completely atrocious and manages to be utterly devoid of all the qualities which make the previous two Nokturnal Mortum LPs good to great. The riffs are completely plastic, forgettable, and when not forgettable, unbelievably awfully arranged. Many of the riffs are completely melodically incoherent, as are the overlaying synths, which are applied almost randomly and with no logical sense of songwriting. The synths and riffs absolutely refuse to fit together, arbitrarily grinding against each other because the band couldn't be bothered to assemble them in a pleasing way. The drumming is more restrictive and not nearly as organic and catchy as what was found on albums like 'Goat Horns', instead resorting to trite sets of thrash beats and double bass so as not to scare the listener with anything unpredictable (already failing due to the shitty variety of unpredictability practiced by the melodic instruments). Even the vocals are somehow worse than before, weak and gurgling without the declarative tone of previous albums.

I would honestly be inclined to think that 'NeChrist' was a bad joke was it not so well-received by so many people. If everyone agreed with me that this was terrible shit, I could write it off as a silly joke that went too far and ignore it. But much to my chagrin, there's people who actually like this stuff and think it's quality folk black metal. Please, whatever you do, don't believe the (occasional) hype: this is a pinecone down the urethra in musical form, and quite possibly one of the worst things to ever be turned out under the guise of heavy metal. I want to shoot Varggoth in the fucking balls for this.

Go back to the year 2000 and try listening to NeChrist for the first time. Compared to older Nokturnal Mortum albums, NeChrist is a heavy punch of ruthless metal right in your face. It's a lot more violent sounding than Goat Horns and has a much thicker and "fuller" production than To the Gates...After about 30 seconds of random ambient noises in the first track, you're in for a long ride of metal fury with a heavy touch of folk involved.

NeChrist is a very rich album. Try listening to some low intensity metal for a while then put in NeChrist. The furious rhythms will draw you in as you sit back impressed with such intensity of the music. It's mean and fast. With 10 meaty tracks all over the 5:30 mark, NeChrist certainly feels like a very complete album. Mixed in with the wave of barbarism of the music, several different themes can be found in each track. Call of the Aryan Spirit emphasizes on a more triumphant style of writing, while The Funeral Wind Born in Oriana is mostly folk dominated, containing a variety of instruments during certain parts of the track, which actually can be a bit silly but the music is interesting regardless. Songs like Jesus' Blood really show the violent and angry nature of this album especially if one sees the lyrics ("Suck the dick of Christ...fuck his dead flash!") supplemented by a brutal wave of drums. It's also worth noting there's a nice ambient part at the end of that track.

The Child of Swamps and Full Moon is probably the best song on the album. There isn't anything too much different from the other tracks here, but it really represents the barbaric, furious, and thundering feel of the album just by the way the vocals, drums, and other instruments blend together. There's a small break in the middle of the track with a nocturnal, swampish atmosphere with the vocalist speaking in Russian (although with harsh vocals still). Then the fury begins again. Ultimately nothing really stands out about this track, but really gives the listener a strong taste of the rage found on NeChrist.

I think on NeChrist in particular, Nokturnal Mortum had a pretty solid line up. Knjaz Varggoth's vocals are probably the best here, especially compared to the English version of Weltenschauung where I can't take him seriously sometimes. There's a Motorhead cover on some issues of this album where he also has horrible vocals, but as far as the original ten tracks on NeChrist are concerned, his vocals are pretty damn good here. Munthruthel's drumming also adds a lot to the album. Combine that with the intense riffs and finally the icing on the cake due to the keyboards, you've got the recipe for a very solid metal album. The riffs actually aren't too versatile, but the mood and atmosphere they create more than make up for that.

I've mostly said good things about the album so far, but it does have a few drawbacks. The worst one is that NeChrist barely stands the test of time. You may really enjoy the album for the first few days you listen to it thoroughly, but after that you get easily sick of it moreso than other metal albums. I'm not sure exactly why this is true in particular. It could be a song writing issue. Although many tracks have different themes, they all have the same feel for the most part and that could get tiring for many people (considering the fact that there are no short tracks here). Well, that's only partially true, there are 78 additional tracks of ambient noises, each only 4 seconds long. There are no weak tracks, let alone filler, but chances are if you're pretty sick of one song, you're going to be sick of the rest. One also minor thing - there are female vocals scattered in a few songs. More often than not, they don't fit in well at all, but they are scarce enough to not make too much of a difference. They also remade a song from the Lunar Poetry release, which actually still sounds pretty good. It has a different feel, but they didn't fuck it up like most bands tend to do when they re-do their own songs a few years later.

On a final note, NeChrist is a very good album with lots of good features and ideas in it you wouldn't find in other bands or albums, but should you attempt to listen it, do so sparingly. Too much NeChrist leaves a dull aftertaste in your ears (...or after"listen"?). Listen to this album perhaps once a month and perhaps you may overlook all of the flaws. Regardless, most Nokturnal Mortum fans will recommend this piece of work.

This is Nokturnal Mortum's 3rd full length album and coming at a time when the band was enjoying good recognition in the worldwide BM scene. When you first listen to this you must realize that every Nokturnal Mortum album sounds different from the previous one, both in regards to production and style. Goat Horns is the most melodic with the keyboards dominating. To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire is more drum and guitar driven, with much attention placed on aggressiveness and this one places a big emphasis on the folk instruments. In turn this is my personal favorite NM album and I know a lot of others who agree.

A song by song analysis is not really necessary here, as basically every song is like this: Starts off fast and brutal, then goes into the folky parts, then gets a bit slower, then gets fast again. I'm not saying this is bad and the songs do not all sound the same, quite the opposite in fact. But some people may not like this pattern so I bring it up in case it may be a turn off to some people. The sound is quite different on this album compared to the previous ones. Whilst the Goat Horns had a somewhat mono production and TTGOBF had a damn good sound, this is extremely lo-fi compared to anything they have ever done up to this point. First of all, when going over the sound, you will hear that the guitars are thin as can be and sound like chainsaws, meaning that the riffs sometimes become blurs due to this thin sound. On top of that the riffs are more traditional BM in the sense that it's a lot of speed picking and power chords, unlike the almost thrashy feel of the riffs on older releases. There are solos in two songs only, namely Night Before The Fight and The Call of Aryan Spirit. In previous albums solos ran amok, but again, I'm not really complaining, as the guitars are taking a backseat here. The bass is only audible at the beginning of one song, which is Death Damnation. The drums are very hollow sounding and quite frequently the bass drum gets completely buried in the mix, which is a shame because Munruthel is an extremely underrated drummer. He really lets loose on the double kick and his blast beats are insanely fast at times. The keyboards still have a great importance on this album, as with the past albums, but the greatest emphasis is placed on the rich melodies which the folk instruments provide, especially on songs like Funeral Wind, Black Raven and Dance of Swords. At times they sound like a bunch of hippies in the woods smoking pot or a band of gypsies. This is especially evident on the first song, The Funeral Wind Born In Oriana. Varggoth even does these little amazonian (as another reviewer said) yips and yells, which in truth I think fit well with the atmosphere.

Now with that I come to the vocals. Knjaz Varggoth has always been IMO a hugely underrated vocalist. He has a very unique voice which doesn't sound like the average BM vocalist. On here he sounds completely possessed and his vocals are a big part of why I like this album so much. And I can't forget his little trademark "waaaaaaaaaaaaah!" which I find to be just awesome (and inspiring since I do them too with my music.) I said a song by song review was not necessary, which is true, but I will comment on the one song which I find to be completely perfect, and that is The Call of Aryan Spirit. Everything is very grandiose on this song and Knjaz's vocals are especially vicious on this one, which is really no surprise to me anyway. The verse sections are epic IMO and I just completely love this song.

Overall, while some may not like this album, I find it to be completely engrossing and I keep this in my stereo A LOT. I highly recommend this album to fans of folk music, BM or those who are looking for something different. Try it and loose yourself.

Coming at a time when Nokturnal Mortum (NM) was becoming very popular, this album is easily the worst NM album there is. Having said that, however, this is by no means a bad album. In fact, it has its moments and some songs are really good and show NM's talent and ability. Unfortunately, this album is weakened by other rushed songs and the silliness of some songs.

The songs for this album vary, from being decent to being outstanding, it shows that when NM put there mind to it, they can create some very good and interesting songs, such as "Black Raven". This song is great; it has a lot of variety and has a great riff. it is delivered in a heartfelt way which really makes you think that Knjaz was dedicated when he wrote and recorded this album. Subsequently, this song has become a NM classic.

However some songs such as "The Funeral Winds Born in Oriana", are decent BUT Knjaz doesn't seem to be very serious about the song because he is making noises like an Amazon, no joke! He also has what appears to be a girl laughing in the song? Furthermore, when you think the song finishes, it starts up again as abruptly as it has stopped. Was he trying to be funny? I don't really like black metal bands which put (or try to put) humour into their songs. It represents a lack of sincerity on the composer's behalf and ultimately weakens the song.

Another problem with this album, is the lack/or use of synths. This can be partiucalrly noticed on songs such as "Night before the Fight" and "Nechrist: The Dance of Swords". The problem is, that is the synths are great and make the song sound really good, but basically as soon as they've started, they leave and the song becomes boring. Especially in "Night before the Fight" and in "Nechrist: The Dance of Swords", as soon as the synths leave where in some Ukrainian festival. Seriously, it sounds like these guys have gone to some Ukrainian festival (because there's the sound of people talking and clapping etc), recorded the sounds there and put a flute and a guitar over the top. It's almost as if these guys ran out of ideas for that song so they just decided to do that.

The vocals are pretty good actually; they're usually quite harsh and brutal. Sometimes though, he tries to sing like Dani Filth and his vocals go really high pitched. Again, it seems to me like he wasn't very serious when he was releasing this album. At least it seems like he's having a good time. As for the clean vocals, well Knjaz is pretty good actually, thing is he's got a really high pitched voice so he kinda sounds like a chick. You'll find clean vocals on two songs: "In the Fire of the Wooden Churches" (NM's version of In The Glare of Burning Churches?) and the re-recorded version of "Perun's Celestial Silver." On "Perun's Celestial Silver" he also (surprisingly) sounds like an Indigenous Australian. I dunno how to describe it, you really need to listen to it yourself, despite that, it seems to work quite well.

I will now dedicate a paragraph to "Perun's Celestial Silver" because it is a re-recorded song. Firstly re-recorded songs suck 99% of the time, are better on the original version or both. This time, the song was way better on Lunar Poetry, the passion it was played with Lunar Poetry was absent, and it seems to have a cartoonish atmosphere. It's like these guys are desecrating one of their own classic songs (as "Perun's Celestial Silver" is considered by many to be a NM classic.) Secondly, it seems like this album was added on just as a filler. It goes for an extra minute cause these guys have added on some ambient noises which includes wolves howling etc.

Overall, I was kinda disappointed with this album. It seems like NM was rushing this album just for a quick buck. What's disappointing about this album is that when I listen to it, I hear potential, but it's usually not developed or ruined by mucking around. True, it still has it moments but overall this is crap for NM (judging from previous masterpieces such as Goat Horns). I really can only recommend this album to the fans.

This is the most extreme Nokturnal Mortum album so far and I really wonder if they will ever top this when it comes to extremity. “NeChrist” also seems to be an album that gets extremely mixed reactions from people. Well, I belong to those that totally worship this album. The amount of fury and hatred present on “NeChrist” is unbelievable. The band play like they are possessed, tearing through the songs in a frightfully sadistic manner. Knjaz’ vocals sound possessed beyond all control as he mercilessly spits out the lyrics. On “NeChrist” the band bring in a lot of folk influences (real instruments are used for the folk parts) and when these folk influences are mixed together with the band’s own raging majestic black metal the result is simply amazing. “The Funeral Wind of Oriana”, “The Call of Aryan Spirit”, “Death Damnation” and “Jesus’ Blood” are prime examples of the genius combination of tear-your-face-off type extreme blasting and folk influences. Hell, the folk parts of “The Funeral Wind of Oriana” and “The Call of Aryan Spirit” are so catchy that you want to start dancing, destroy all the furniture and smash your head through the window when you hear them. The combination of black metal and folk stuff has never been done this way before and will probably never be done this way again. Everything falls into place and the songs are incredibly varied.

As always, the keyboards play an important part in Nokturnal Mortum’s music. Saturious and Sataroth handle their keyboards with real skill, there’s always something interesting going on in the keyboard department. What I especially like about the keyboards is how they are used during the blast parts. During these parts the keyboards often play in a very bombastic way, which makes the music sound huge. “NeChrist” also contains one of the best Nokturnal Mortum songs ever, namely “Black Raven”. It has no fast parts at all and is one of the most atmospheric songs they’ve ever recorded. The song starts with some dramatic narration in the beginning and builds up into an incredible mid-tempo track with a truly haunting theme melody played on keyboards. For this release the band have re-recorded “Perun’s Celestial Silver” from “Lunar Poetry” in a raw and brutal version. The Motörhead cover “Deaf Forever” is a nice one as well. Never thought I’d hear Motörhead covered by a symphonic black metal band though.

After all this praise, is there anything that’s not good on “NeChrist”? Yeah, unfortunately there is. The weak point on “NeChrist” is definitely the production: the guitars are paper-thin and lack heaviness, while the drums are pretty hollow. On the original version the bass was too loud in the mix and it drowned out the guitars. I’m reviewing the remastered re-release by Oriana Music and here the bass is toned down a bit and the guitars can be heard a little better than on the original version. With a heavier and more professional production this album would get a full 100 % from me.

I guess that MT was a bit too rough on Nokturnal Mortum's ass. Despite his roughness, he hit some points. First of all, that this album is "a little bit too very" overrated.
The blasting used here sounds quite sloppy, I don't know for sure if it is the weird hollow drum sound or the drummer's lack of precision that makes it annoying (it might be both, I guess). The song structures get a little bit too rigid: blasting parts+extended march rhythm+folk breakdown. This is the structure of any song here. The guitars seem buried over the booming drum sound and the folk keyboards, but there are some moments where Knjaz shines, like Night Before The Fight and The Child Of Swamps And Full Moon.
Oh, and another thing: sometimes, the song sounds simply disjointed. Just hear the sudden slavonic dance part thrown after blasting black metal. It gets uneffective and amateurish compared to bands like Dub Buk and Temnozor, which use the folk element incorporated and not separate from the black part.
I liked a lot the vocals on NeChrist. They got even better than on Goat Horns. Varggoth calls at arms the slavonic nations, and he never forces himself too much in order to sound grim, harsh and hateful (especially on the simple but ear-splitting "Waaaaaaaaaahh!" that can be found on The Child Of Swamps And Full Moon and Jesus' Blood). The keyboards achieve sometimes a mesmerizing and magical aura, and I really liked the folk breakdowns in The Dance Of Swords, but it might get monotonous, especially when we think about the limited possibilities of the rhythmic register.
A nice work (unlike the crap from The Taste Of Victory and Weltanschauung).

Here we have another pathetic Knjaz Varggoth's project and one of the very overrated Black Metal albums (and as well one of the most overrated bands) of these days which is inscrutably seen as both "interesting" and "underground kvlt", or even as the best Heathen-oriented band from Eastern Europe by the most oblivious The-Pagan-Front affiliated metallers and some other unconscious skinheads and sub-optimal people. This isn't precisely true, paganism has served as a ideology for both characterless and quintessential bands since Bathory started moving away from Black Metal. This BM/Paganism coalition gave birth to bands like Burzum, Enslaved, Hate Forest, Drudkh, Graveland which belong to the later category and so-so bands like NM which belong to the former.

Now let's dissect and castigate this album and its fecal musicianship: first off, this loathsome album is essentially (but wrongly) cited as a reputable admixture between Black Metal, Ukrainian folk music and nature sounds. Nevertheless, this isn't even remotely true; the overwhelming Black Metal part of NeChrist is generally poor structured, lo-fi and punk-simple with constant out of time blastbeats and skanking with some out-of-place keyboards and no verse-chorus-verse overuse, but a persistent repetition of the same riffs and drum-patterns. Riffs found on this album are figuratively absent, instead of them a big critical mass of murky static feedback that vaguely resembles the typical tremolo-picking technique constitutes nearly all of this album guitarwork. On the other hand, the little folkloric segment found here is generally located in some intros and not in the actual songs, the only "folksy" things present in the existing songs are brief interludes and keyboard solos generally found in the last 4 songs.

An extremely subnormal backyard production integrated by several instruments being recorded together with no isolation plagues this Nokturnal Mortum full-length, that same overall sound neglects the energy of every instrument played on this album which frustrates any attempt to make an optimal Black Metal atmosphere like those of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas or the darker Joined in Darkness. The static-driven twiglike guitar sound and an even weaker bass fuse down with loud echoed drums and distant gurgled, angry vocals. The sum of these 4 weak elements make every note and riff almost impossible to hear. 2 main genus of tempos are to be encountered:
A) Rapid blastbeats and endless noise coming from the other instruments that lead to a predominant fast tempo and
B) Repetitive polka-sounding generic mid-paced skanking with more of the aforementioned never-ending static noise.
Different brands of tempos are also present; for instance power chords with primitive slow beats, but their duration is really limited compared to the overwhelming faction of the aforementioned two. NeChrist fails at nearly all aspects that make Black Metal truly amazing; while some Average-Joe Black Metaller might think the production gives rawness to the music, anyone who can notice the difference between a sub-standard crap production and a comprehensive raw production would perceive the forced aggression and empty crudeness that Nokturnal Mortum renders and consequently despise that unreal aesthetic they're attempting (and failing) to do. In addition this CD has several ludicrous gimmicks: notably that "88 tracks" one and countless tiny filler tracks made-up by "natural" sounds whose origin is uncertain but certainly aren't directly recorded from a forest and thus, deeming they're probably done with keyboards, or perhaps taken from some National Geographic documentary. Are fabricated, synthetic sounds natural? I don't think so! and I don't think either way stolen samples from TV-shows/movies are very evil or nature-oriented. To conclude this review, in making execrable music, Nokturnal Mortum is supreme.

NeChrist feels more arcane and brutal than Goat Horns with rawer intonations and less present keyboards. The folk passages are part of this album but they are less integrated in the rest of music. You will hear distinct black metal part and distinct folk part, but rarely both at the same time like in Goat Horns. By no means, this album is a grim, true, and excellent black metal release. I think it is the most severe album of Nokturnal Mortum.

I am also pleased with the theme of NeChrist, it is quite hateful and the folkloric touches which feel very Aryan add to the National Socialist subject matter. Very well executed. The guitars and drums are a highlight too, speed picking and blasting are common features of NeChrist. The compositions are achieved in a great manner, everything fits together perfectly, switching back and forth with raw black metal and folk parts.

My personal favorite on NeChrist is The Call of the Aryan Spirit, but every songs are very solid and equally good. Also, the album spans 1hr 12 minutes. I find that incredible for a black metal CD. More bands should do that. The creativity is always at its paroxysm from start to finish.

Another excellent release by the Ukrainians. Listen for yourself and give it a try.

Nokturnal Mortum have outdone themselves once again with NeChrist. Being one of the biggest black metal acts hailing from Ukraine and known for their national socialist views, their is no denying, whether you agree with them or not, that Nokturnal Mortum makes some of the best music in the black metal scene today.

Nokturnal Mortum has always been known for their terrific use of keyboards in order to set a great natural medieval atmosphere to their music. In this album they once again showcase this gift. However, although the keys are not as abundant on NeChrist than on Goat Horns, the band still manages to express their signature feel to the music. With the presence of two keyboardists, one would think that the synths would overpower the music. Not so. The use of two keyboardists only adds more depth and expression to the music which flows along perfectly with the rest of the instruments.

One big difference about NeChrist in comparison to Nokturnal Mortum's previous releases is the much more raw and primitive production on the album. I think that because of this, the album should be viewed individually from the rest of the band's releases. NeChrist showcases creativity and diversity in the band's sound as they experiment a bit, yet not enough so that their old style is completely gone. Even though the production is a bit raw, the album remains extremely listenable while maintaining a primitive and aggressive atmosphere.
From a medieval battlefield to vast forests, Nokturnal Mortum captures such atmospheres with unbelievable skill. The presence of a Ukrainian folk orchestra only makes the experience even more captivating since the folk parts sound so much more believable and work along with the keyboards flawlessly to create great natural melodies that accompany the merciless riffage of the rest of the band.

Another difference about NeChrist from the rest of Nokturnal Mortum's work is that it's much more thrashy when it comes to the guitars. The riff that is built up at the end of "The Night Before the FIght" will force you to bang your head as Varggoth screams his lungs out in classic black metal fashion. I thoroughly enjoy the guitarwork on this album as well as the terrific drumming which is not the normal blastbeat filler that is
abundant in so much of black metal today.

The band really focused on nature as their topic on this album as they dedicated over 70 tracks to nature sounds before ripping their listeners' heads off with a cover of their own old song "Perun's Celestial Silver" which they completely improved upon in almost every way. And that's something because the song was already ingenious on their Lunar Poetry album. The folk musicians really stand out on the track and close the album tremendously well on track 88, symbolizing Nokturnal Mortum's ideology.

NeChrist is a hands down must-have for anybody into black metal, especially those who are into medieval folk influenced black metal. I would even say that it is one of the best albums to grace the scene in years. Nokturnal Mortum are using all the best aspects of black metal which anybody in the genre can enjoy. A purely amazing release by an incredible band.