The Luciferian Doctrine

I was rather "tricked" into buying this by a metal-store owner who told me they were from "somewhere in Europe"; I still, sadly, labour under the delusion that American black metal is inferior. This album has done much to change my mind, I'm pleased to say!

This has very many elements of traditional heavy metal hidden amongst it's dark morbidity. The band has the sound of inexperience, which gives the music a certain charm and nostalgia. It very much sounds like guys who grew up worshipping Sodom and Mayhem and Bathory, though the music doesn't resemble any of them. The sound is dirty and murky, but not unendurably so; time was spent to make it sound good. It is not bleak and sparse, and so not "necro" in that regard. The overall feeling of the album IS, however, "necro", perhaps the rather primitive packaging adds to it? There is nothing to tip-off to a Euro-centric snob like myself that Nosvrolok is NOT from Scandinavia...except the vocals.

The vocals on "The Luciferian Doctrine" are rather unique; they lean more toward death stylings, but are so intoned as to leave no error that this is a black metal vocalist. They have a nice rasp to them, and are not the typical wailing bleats of torment of many bm vocalists. They, upon getting used to them, are enjoyably unique!

There is plenty of action going on in the songs, quite a variety for almost everyone. No symphonic mincings here; in fact, I don't think keyboards enter the equation at all with Nosvrolok. There are some effectively eerie segues, but one thing I didn't enjoy about this album is the drawn out "outro", which is about the only flaw I can find with the album. There IS an actual song, but after the song the track continues with "spooky sounds" and wolves howling. May even appeal to some, who knows?

I would give this higher marks, but there IS room for more originality, and perhaps in future we can hear it from these guys. There is nothing incredibly sinister or unusual on here, but nothing ever gets reallly boring. All in all, a very satisfying listen of just plain good black metal.