NIGHTBRINGER

There is something special about this Colorado black metal outfit. You can hear it from the opening notes of "I am I" to the fading ring of "Fount of Nighted God-head" from NIGHTBRINGER's "Apocalypse Sun". It is over an hour's worth of USBM and Scandinavian black metal blending that is conventional enough for those with distaste for over-expansiveness and perpetual shoe gazing, yet varied and atmospheric enough for those wanting more than DARK FUNERAL blast 'n rip.

While it is true that 66 minutes is a lot to swallow and most would be hard pressed to throw it on just any ole time, "Apocalypse Sun" is one album that requires complete immersion to fully appreciate it. Anything shorter and the totality of the tale couldn't have been told. Interestingly enough, the atmospheric aspect of the album has nothing to do with electronic effects or samples of thunderstorms (though the choral effects on "Supplication before the Throne of Tehom" are just perfect),but rather the overall feel of the excellent minor-note harmonies and vocal variances (typically either lower range growls or mid-to-upper range raspy screams). Even more surprising is that those cold, wind-blown feelings of morbidity are captured and conveyed through Dave Otero's sharp-edged and comparatively clean production, in the process somehow working to the advantage of "Apocalypse Sun" just as it did for albums from SUMMON and THROCULT. When "Apocalypse Sun" is fast blasting and shredding for Satan the effect impales the eardrums and melts the flesh of the outer ears.

Song-wise, "Apocalypse Sun" offers an array of tempos and textures in temperatures that stay just below freezing, sometimes dropping to subzero when things get especially ominous (e.g. "The Utterance of Kasabe'l"). In many respects, "Excitium - Litany of the Devouring Earth" is the best representation of NIGHTBRINGER's propensity for composing songs that grip the listener with icy cold notes and suspend disbelief as the song reveals itself to be cinematic in scope; it is difficult to explain, but it is kind of like the audio equivalent of being forced to repeatedly watch black and white propaganda films depicting atrocities suffered by an indigenous people at the hands of an imperialistic country's army.

But let's reign in the imagery and focus on the album's "X" factor: the guitar work. Outside of breaking free of the minor-note mold, there isn't a lot left to do with orthodox black metal guitar arrangements, but NIGHTBRINGER come up with some great harmonies on the album and are somehow able to keep it interesting. Just listen to the way in which a treacherous melody line swiftly snakes through the insidious "Goblet of Sulfur and Poison". At various points along the way one will hear riffs that are individualistic in one sense and in another reminiscent of a bleeding together of ANTAEUS, early WATAIN, and FUNERAL MIST.

So maybe "Apocalypse Sun" is not an any-place-any-time type of disc for those outside of devout BM realms. It damn sure makes an impact when the right time and right place is chosen though.