Listening Experience of the Month (August 2000) - Nox Mortis '7 Lies'

Hey, people, look! Another good release from Germany's Prophecy Productions, which, along with their countrymen at Ars Metalli, quickly becomes one of the best record companies among small independent labels. This time around they bring us the second release from Nox Mortis, and it's a beauty, solid base hit to the left field...no, hold on, it's a completely different story, I must have been watching too much baseball lately. Returning to Nox Mortis, I have to admit that although I had heard the name long time ago, I had never had an opportunity to check them out, which is no wonder taking into consideration current release overkill. That is until I got myself nicely priced Prophecy Productions compilation CD entitled 'To Magic'. Even though this review is neither about that compilation nor Prophecy Productions itself, I still strongly recommend you to buy that CD, because there is a good chance you will discover some new bands you would like to add to your record collection. OK, returning once again (oh, crap!) to a band in question (that is Nox Mortis), their contribution to the 'To Magic' CD impressed me quite a lot, and thus rather sooner than later I was impatiently unpacking their new album in order to quickly put it in my stereo. And, as some of you already guessed, I was not disappointed with a final result. Although it takes a strong and patient mind to get through 60+ minutes of material featured on this disc, those who do not throw their headphones across the room after abruptly ending first song ceases will find the experience quite satisfying albeit a little bit undercooked. Nox Mortis' music is not easy to categorize, even though they remind me of a shitload of different bands, depending on which part of a particular song I am listening too. To give you a rough idea of what we are talking about here, try to envision atmospheric doom/death record with a lot of acoustic and/or calmer parts which sometimes keep on going for a way too long for its own good and with vocals that mostly alternate between soft growls :-) and clean singing. As I already mentioned earlier, the opening track ends quite unexpectedly and so do couple of other compositions on this album. From what I can hear in the lyrics (which are not included), it seems to be a concept album or at least some songs on the record are connected to each other in some strange way, because in tracks like 'I'm

Floating' and '3'31'' PM' I definitely recognized names of the other album's songs being sung. Unfortunately, as usual, I was too lazy to conduct my own investigation and find out what this record is about, but from what I could make up I understand that they are singing about themes quite typical for a doom scene i.e. fear, emptiness, despair, a quest for (personal?) freedom and so on. However, I am not saying that their lyrics are boring and rehashed, firstly, because I do not have their actual poetry on hand, and, secondly, I like this kind of lyrics if they are done the right way (and it seems to be the case here). OK, returning for the third time to Nox Mortis' music (Jesus ******* Christ!!!), if we look closely enough, we can find small parts of later day Sentenced, 'Draconian Time'-era Paradise Lost, something that sounds like what Katatonia could release right between 'Brave Murder Day' and 'Discouraged Ones' and probably something else I forgot to mention. Now, let me tell you that I do not mean to say that Nox Mortis blatantly rips off all the aforementioned talented musicians, because it would be so far from the true. What it really implies is that I am a lazy bastard (like you do not know it already), and thus I find reviewing by comparison much easier and more convenient than coming up with some highly original and incomprehensible descriptions often given to music by professional reviewers in magazines like Metal Maniacs and Terrorizer. So, while resembling in some parts all of the aforementioned bands, Nox Mortis still manage to mix these influences and their own ideas in such a way that they are able to come up with pretty original material. Now, remember I said that although good this material was a bit undercooked? Well, the problem is that sometimes they seem to be overly self-indulgent, diving into the long acoustic parts that do not really go anywhere. It kinda reminds me of what My Dying Bride did on 'The Cry of Mankind' (not music, but attitude wise). As a result, I prefer their more straightforward and shorter tracks such as an often mentioned '3'31'' PM'. In the middle of the album they also have quite a strange track that utilizes nothing but melancholic vocals, repetitive beat and something that sounds like broken electric piano (maybe not, I am not a musician, so I can not tell). More than anything it reminds me of a little more upbeat Tindersticks! All in all, Nox Mortis are not quite there yet, but this album is a very promising step towards the top, and if they pay a little bit more attention to the structure of their songs (it is NOT mandatory to have 10 minute songs and 60 minute album to succeed in atmospheric doom/death genre), they will get there...and pretty soon. Andy.