Nightbringer

Apocalypse Sun, the follow-up to Nightbringer's 2008 debut, is a furious, hammering assault upon the senses. Unarguably black metal, they have added some appropriately menacing undertones that, whether break-neck or doom-y in pace, prevail throughout. Blistering, pulse quickening discordant riffs and blasts, as well as almost constant double bass, welcome the listener, but there is so much more than that. Aside from the infernal lyrics and swirling, abyssal synth touches, there are subtly and genuinely disturbing element, the sources of which are difficult to place. Nightbringer have arranged some clever orchestrations, which although not overly apparent, do add a truly sinister, and almost avant-garde, dimension. With excellent pieces such as "Upturning the Seventh Chalice" and "Goblet of Sulfur and Poison," this is an intensely exhausting, but outstanding, album. Though "evil" is one of the most trite words with which to describe black metal, it is definitely applicable in this case.