The Nightspectral Voyage

Here's another overlooked German black metal gem: Obsidian Gate's The Nightspectral Voyage. Though appearing at the ass-end of the decade after albums like Moon in the Scorpio and The Sad Realm of the Stars, this is one symphonic black metal masterpiece that can more than hold a candle to other late 90s symphonic black metal gems from the likes of Odium, Limbonic Art, or Gehenna, or even more popular acts like Dimmu Borgir or Emperor at the time.

The keyboards are really the star of the show here with two members, Marco B. and Daniela P., contributing to the album's theatrical element. While the keyboards do tend to drown out the guitars, this is something I can overlooks just because they present themselves nicely regardless. There's quite a few times the lead guitar does peek out and make itself more noticeable, and this happens while playing some of the more interesting riffs. Meanwhile, the drums not only play some furious yet still realistic beats, but also avoids sounding inorganic. They throw in a enough fills to sound convincing and while triggers sound like they've been used, the production doesn't throw it in your face like in Odium's The Sad Realm of the Stars. Markus Z. ties everything together with his sinister black metal rasps and spoken word passages as he recites the album's spacey occult lyrics.

Despite having multiple songs with rather long lengths, this album has a natural flow between the songs and the music doesn't get boring in the middle of any one track. Obsidian Gate, while having some amount of obvious repetition of melodies and riffs, opted to throw new music in every minute of each track. Limbonic Art should have taken notes, because there's a lot more interesting things going (or rather just things in general) on in the 18 minute long "The Obsidian Eternity and Anguish" on this album than on "The Black Hearts Nirvana" from Epitome of Illusions or "In Mourning Mystique" from Moon in the Scorpio, both of those tracks being shorter than the Obsidian Gate one. Even the slightly more concise "From the Infinite Forge of Time" manages to include enough fresh ideas to keep itself entertaining. Despite all the change going on, there are standout moments that will linger in one's memory longer than other sections whether it be the slow climbing riff buildup just at the 2 minute mark of "When Death Unchains the Spectre", the keyboard and drum only bridge section of the same song, the dual keyboard melody at the 1:27 mark of "The Bethorian Shrine", or the amazing outro on "Invoke the Dragon Constellation".

The Nightspectral Voyage is one awesome symphonic black metal experience that should be looked into by everyone with any interest in the genre and is one of my favorite rather obscure black metal gems I've investigated. Those not into the keyboards burying the guitars may be turned off by it, but Obsidian Gate worked around that flaw rather well. It's unfortunately also one of those albums in dire need of a physical reissue; but if you can track it down, the catch is way better than the hunt.

For those black metal fans who have been looking for an obscure but well-produced band that is fast, epic, creative, and worthy of many repeat listenings; this may be the unholy grail you have been questing for.

To begin with, Obsidian Gate has two keyboardists who work in tandem to create a lush layered baroque approach to melodic and harmonic expression of shimmering bombast and theatricality. For those fans of darker, more obscure melodies and riffs that require a sort of sifting thorugh harsh noise (Burzum, Manes, Xasthur, Shining, etc.) to find the complexities of the music, this is not it. The intelligent interplay of counterparts and seperate melodies here is clear and distinct, drawing comparisons to the sounds of Limbonic Art, Tartaros, and Diabolical Masquerade. The guitarwork here is not as subsumed as some of the aforementioned bands; instead one finds a chimeral approach to instumental orchestration that strikes the listener of the best moments of Emperor or Abigor, in which prominent phrases of music are supported and sometimes preverted by swirling shimmers of arpeggiated and at times atonal twists of guitar melodies.

Drumming here fits the music well, and provides a rumbling sea for the harmonic structure to float itself upon, while at times adding flare with well-placed and distinct fills and rolls, which add another level to the layered feel of this work. While fast, it is not egotistical and meshes with the music to create an aesthetic of raging epic theatricality, in the better traditions of black metal instumentation. Vocals would have to be the only mediocre point of this amazing release, which while rasping and screaming, never seem to push any extra emotion out of the album that seperates the landmark albums from the simply extraordiary ones. There are few if any sung or chanted vocals, and when they do occur, they only serve to remind the listener of how agressive truly orchestral black metal can be when the majestically hateful nature of the band kicks in again.

Songs are long and complex organic permutations of structure, splintering logical forms of repetition and at times ignoring it for a more stream-of-consiousness style of organization and lack of obvious repetition that seems to nod to epic dense songwriters such as Abigor and Satyricon. While riffs do repeat, some aspect of instrumentation or counterparts are changing, keeping the flow of the music intense and encompassing.

This is overall an amazing album for fans of orchestral black metal. While this in no way features real symphonic instuments (like Diabolical Masquerade or more opulent label-queens Dimmu Borgir and CoF), the arrangements of the synth and MIDI string sections are convincingly rich; not at all giving rise to comparisons of 'casio-metal' that some so-called orchestral bands might engender. One is left with a desire to listen to this release again and again to pull all the musical complexity out of it, and it makes for a rewarding listening experience. Highly reccomended.