Lunar Poetry

Nokturnal Mortum is one of the more well-known bands in the Ukrainian black metal scene, as well as being one of the biggest bands in the infamous NSBM genre. And before anyone asks, yes I do consider NM to be NS, as despite claiming to have moved away from their racist past, they still play at festivals known for carrying racist bands. But even though the people behind the project are bigoted weirdos and have even carried their beliefs in the music (especially on NeChrist), I still do enjoy the music in of itself, especially in their 1996 demo "Lunar Poetry".

The demo opens up with an ambient track titled "Tears of Paganism", which is filled with cheesy synths and fake echos. While this track hasn't aged the best, it still does a decent job at leading the listener in with its melodic and symphonic atmosphere. The second track "Lunar Poetry" is where the rest of the instruments kick in, and this is where the demo gets good. The guitar riffs are raw in sound, but also a bit melodic in composition, so its tone is bleak, yet melodic. The drumming is also pretty primitive, as the beats sound cheap, but still powerful enough to reel in the riffs with its consistent tempo. The bass, however, is the weakest portion of the demo, as its sound is weak and doesn't do a good job at maintaining a stable foundation. Thankfully, the demo makes up the poor bass work with some fantastic symphonic keyboards, as while it does have that similar cheap sound to the intro track, its melodic sound only further enhances the wintry atmosphere. The overall theme of this demo is meant to replicate the feelings of being in a forest in the middle of a blizzard, and I think this demo does this really well. "Lunar Poetry" is a highlight, but other great instrumentals include "Perun's Celestial Silver", "...and Winter Becomes", and "Autodafe / Barbarian Dreams". I should note that this particular album I own includes bonus tracks, which are from the Black Clouds over Slavonic Lands demo. They're okay, but I personally recommend them for the more dedicated fans of NM, as those listening for the first time might need to get used to the more raw and primitive style of the instrumentals. Otherwise, the instrumentals on Lunar Poetry are fantastic, and still have some of the best riffs in their discography.

As for the vocals, they're just as good. Knjaz Varggoth has been the go-to in the vocal department, and I would argue that his best vocal performance comes from this demo. His vocals consist of a mixed bag of shrieks, screams, chants, and more, and each style is executed well. A good example of this is in the track "Carpathian Mysteries". The track takes on a more depressive and somber approach compared to other tracks, and Varggoth reflects this well with his shrieks adding in more hate and despair, along with the epic chants enhancing the symphonic synths. In more upbeat tracks like "Ancient Nation", Varggoth's shrieks only add more energy to the melodic riffs and slower drumming. Varggoth's vocals in NM are usually good, but here, his youthful personality really does shine with his shrieks.

Compared to their later works, this demo is different with its more raw and amateurish style and production. However, I believe that's part of the charm, as the melodic riffs and cheerful keyboards are amazing at bringing in a calming wintry forest, and Varggoth's vocals only push this idea further by adding in angst and distress to contrast the beautiful melodies. While it isn't perfect, "Lunar Poetry" is still a fantastic demo that I highly recommend you check out.

I wasn't interested in Nokturnal Mortum when I first heard of them in the 90's: corpsepainted black metal with some whack political views. Still, I thought that the cover of Lunar Poetry was one of the most beautiful pieces of art, and that's what finally drove me to check it and its awesome predecessor (Twilightfall) out. This is a perfect mix of Norwegian, Swedish, and Greek black metal styles, with a keen ear for melody and atmosphere, performed in an honest way with lots of youthful passion and a consummate professionalism one would expect off a sophomore album, not a sophomore demo. It's not as unique as Twilightfall or as accomplished as their masterpiece, Голос Сталi, but Lunar Poetry is extremely enjoyable.

The Emperor influence seems obvious in the epic intro followed by the opening blast beats of "Lunar Poetry." Right away, you think more Darkthrone than Emperor with that riff, but it gives way to some riffing that is more Swedish, a la Dissection, especially in the way that the melodies are delivered. The way that the guitar solo goes from a melodic lead to some insane, nearly atonal mayhem at the end is exquisite! "Perun's Celestial Silver" has a number of melodic passages, but that verse riff is pure nastiness, an ugly tangle of barbed wire and broken glass that could have come out of 1985...oh, and epic build in the center with the subdued chanting behind the rather folky melody. Elsewhere, there's some clear evidence of Greek influence on the verse riff of "Carpathian Mysteries," or the beginning of the driving "..And Winter Becomes." A few of the melodies on "Ancient Nation" have that I'm-so-cold-I'm-going-to-slash-my-wrists feel of Katatonia, further compounding the wintry feel. I would have loved to hear some more lead guitar, but the few parts that have it sound great--music of this nature could always use some more guitar solos, especially to offset the melodic elements. There's a pretty good balance of melody and violence, and Nokturnal Mortum continue to flaunt their talent for smoothly structuring songs.

The later folk elements are limited mainly to melodies, usually played by the keyboards, such as on "Ancient Nation." Varggoth does some pagan chanting here and there, but his clean vocals are buried a bit in the mix, giving them a touch of subtlety that only enhances the obscure and enchanting atmosphere. He's certainly more focused on a pure black metal rasp, but doesn't neglect his lower register entirely.

The drums are very well done here, although they are clearly programmed, or at least performed on an electric kit and quantized. Just like Twilightfall, the fills and cymbal work are both enjoyable, even if Lunar Poetry has significantly less of note going on in the percussion department. The bass is buried behind a wall of fuzzy guitars that are certainly not recorded with awesome sounding amps. They're very fuzzy, simiilar to Darkthrone, and sting like the snowflakes of a raging blizzard. The overall mix and sound are incredibly good for a demo.

Now, the keyboards are another story. I can't take them totally seriously, as they are clearly the bargain basement type that you would expect from the time and place that produced Lunar Poetry. Though when they provide an underlying texture, they sound good, some of them sound as though they could have come off of any of the first four Cars albums. And no matter how well the keyboards are mixed, they still sound too loud. Just take the part after the minute mark in "...And Winter Becomes," which could be the soundtrack to some aliens chasing down and anal probing some forest dwelling barbarians. The ambient/instrumental "Grief of Oriana" is supposed to sound all epic, but it just sounds like a cheap version of the orgy in Conan the Barbarian, except here it's corpsepainted dudes cavorting with traditionally dressed women in a sauna where everyone is pigging the fuck out on borsch, horilka, sauerkraut stuffed vareniki, and cabbage rolls. It's not unlike the band Pazuzu, just way better, and you can easily forgive Nokturnal Mortum because the novelty of it all is worth it and it kind of fits with the cheesiness of the album. Hell, even "Autodafe," which starts off with this frilly little Lord Fauntleroy tea-and-crumpets ditty, introduces a Tubular Bells-esque breakdown in the middle and end which are epic as hell...it sounds like freezing to death in the woods on a beautiful, moonlit winter night, which is how an album called Lunar Poetry should end.

No lyrics are provided so you can don't have to worry about being offended. I just pretend it's all about snow, ancient gods, and beautiful women.

Oh, and that Celtic Frost cover is pretty damn disposable.

"Lunar Poetry" is one of the most cringeworthy albums I've heard, and I've heard quite a few. Oh wait, is it a demo or an album? Who cares, bands in that league usually have the same lo-fi type of production, no matter how the product is classified. It's more "trve" to release demos than albums, so I guess it's best to classify this product as a demo, because it aspires to be "trve" without any doubt.

Listening to this album is a very frustrating experience. First of all, the drums have a very artificial tone that sounds unauthentic. I don't know if a real drummer was used in the recording process of this album or if they used a cheap drum machine, but I won't be surprised if it's the latter. The snare and hi-hats sounds very robotic, like it was programmed very badly with the same velocity value for each hit, plus they are very low in the mix and lack any substance. Instead of adding some required energy to the tracks, they sounds like a background toy that makes noise.

The keyboards sounds completely out of place, my cringe-o-meter almost exploded in certain sections of this album due to the sheer awkwardness in that department. The intro track for instance, has some really plastic choirs sounds and crappy synthetic violins that sounds like it belongs to an old rpg 2d "Game Boy" game rather than in a black metal album. The intro of "Perun's Celestial Silver" has some eerie sound effect that sounds like a whipping dog, later joined by a cheap flute-like synth that gets stuck on the same dull melody for way too long. The next theme is a really, I mean really, goofy melodic theme that is doubled by the distorted guitar and some juvenile bells sound that made me laugh hard.
I don't know what's worse: the dull keyboard arrangements that try hard to be epic but fail miserably or the cringeworthy type of sounds that are used in those pathetic attempts. It's a tough question to answer.

The vocals are indistinguishable, I have no idea if they are in English or Ukrainian, I couldn't find lyrics to any of the songs except two, and they were in Ukrainian so I guess that's the case. The shrieking are nothing outstanding, quite monotone and blurry, but the occasional clean vocals hovers between something that sound like a random drunk guy yelling gibberish at the cloud in the middle of night and some very pathetic experiments with operatic vocals. Meh.

Overall, the songwriting of this album is very repetitive and predictable. Most of the songs use the same tired recipe of abusing a couple of dull semi folk melodies that repeat themselves to death with plastic sounding keyboards and cheap buzzy guitars that are accompanied by an extremely robotic drum machine and indistinguishable vocals. There's a sheer amount of kitschy melodies that I just can't take seriously, especially not with those plastic keyboards that are being thrown all over the place and makes me laugh hard every time I hear them.

Hard pass.

Nokturnal Mortum is an anomaly in the black metal scene. They've created some amazing albums throughout their career and really enjoy incorporating Slavic folk music within their brand of theatrical symphonic black metal. What is really interesting about these guys is their two demo releases "Twilightfall" and this, "Lunar Poetry." While "Twilightfall" works more like a full-length album, "Lunar Poetry" is a bit of an improvement and sounds much more like a legitimate full-length disc. With this album (I will refer to this as such, because like I said, it is much more a full-length than a demo) Nokturnal Mortum has finally found their unique sound of black metal.

Right off the bat, this album sounds quite different than "Twilightfall". The band had found their ideal sound and ran with it. The guitar tone is beautiful and these riffs, like the previous record, are extremely melodic. However, they are not melodic death metal influenced riffs. Instead, we are treated to beautiful, wintery riffs a la classic symphonic black metal, much like early Emperor. We still experience some beautiful guitar solos, a few key examples lying within the album's title track towards the end and the absolutely cold yet beautiful "...and Winter Becomes". The guitars are freezing cold throughout the album. They range from extremely chaotic, yet controlled, to wonderfully melodic. I really don't recall any acoustic sections on any of these songs, however; that really bothers me a bit. One thing about "Twilightfall" that was absolutely amazing and enhanced the music greatly was the implementation of acoustic guitars. This really helped enhance the ever-present folk atmosphere throughout the music. This is a small issue with "Lunar Poetry" for me because we don't experience any acoustic guitars. Sure, we definitely get amazing folk sections with more traditional sounding instruments provided by the synthesizer, which is the case for all following albums, but acoustics would have been a great addition on "Lunar Poetry" because it would have enhanced the atmosphere of this specific album greatly.

Keyboard wise, this album succeeds greatly. These keys range from folky on tracks like "Perun's Celestial Silver" and the synth piece "The Grief of Oriana" to symphonic and huge-sounding on tracks such as "Carpathian Mysteries" and the absolutely amazing 11 minute "Return of the Vampire Lord" which is included on the 2001 pressing of this CD by The End Records, which is the version I own. The keyboards really work as a portal from reality to one's innermost dreams. That's really the best way I could describe them. It's just amazing to close your eyes and listen to this album. Accompanied by Varggoth's vocals and the drums which happen to be perfectly mixed with the rest of the music, the atmosphere on this album is gorgeous. Varggoth's vocals are also a huge improvement over the sound we heard on "Twilightfall". Instead of a more death metal-influenced style, he opts for a traditional black metal rasp and it fits the music much better. There are moments he sounds as if he is weeping, such as on the appropriate cover of Celtic Frost's "Sorrows of the Moon". The occasional clean vocals help to control the chaos a bit and we also hear some heroic sounding chants.

Another atmosphere boost within the music is the thin layer of static fuzz which plays throughout the whole album. It is more apparent when the instruments become increasingly quiet or during breaks within the songs, but it's always there. Like I said earlier, some acoustic sections would really benefit this album greatly and the score would have been a bit higher. There are also some studio errors within some of the songs that sound somewhat sloppy, but these are hardly noticeable anyway. Besides, this is supposed to be a demo, right? It's not supposed to be perfect but for a demo, this really does sound more like full-length material. An amazing album that any fan of symphonic black metal or folk metal needs to check out, "Lunar Poetry" has become a classic release from these Ukrainian giants.

I'll confess, what I enjoy the most about this 1996 re-release is the cover art - that and the booklet picture(s), etc. When it comes to the music, well... if you have heard this band's later material you probably know what to expect, although you probably don't know what degree in which to anticipate the different elements. Folk influences, you are thinking? Yes, they are here - all over the place - but because they appear mainly as odd synth/keyboard manipulations instead of song structures specifically built upon a 'folk' framework, they merely color the music (traditional black metal) rather than form the skeleton of its essential message. This is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to black metal bands, but it is interesting to see exactly how NM got their start, what elements they chose to concentrate on, which ones they later ignored, etc. And out of all the NM release we have had the pleasure of listening to so far in their career, this is the most relaxed, even-tempered, almost 'serene' in certain parts, although that's the sort of serenity that comes in the middle of a five-minute long blast beat. So this is strange... the band trying to reflect, in an epic sense primarily, the ascendency and beauty of nature or the past in a form of music that, evolving, later became much more barbaric, increasingly violent. From here to the third album, for example, is a major step down into the world, away from ideal creations of the mind into pure sublunar warfare. NM has never been one to merely reside in this world, however, there is always an epic edge to their material, a constant call to the beyond, to above or below. Is this the beginning of that concentration? The first step of that particular urge in the music towards something... more? How, exactly, did they end up with 'Nechrist'?

And why did they fall, far downwards, into the savagery of their next two releases? Was the poetry of the moon, of nature and the 'mysticism' of the abstract not enough to sustain their energies, their curiosity?

This release opens with one of those pseudo-natural soundscapes that I elliptically referred to above: the use of the keyboard, the most modern instrument on the recording, to mimic or 'falsify' natural atmospheres. This is a prevailing paradox in modern black metal, and NM didn't resolve it until their last release, which had them using, I believe, authentic native instruments. It's all just a matter of finances, really. The synths stand in for other elements that can't be 'authentically' manipulated until the recording budget grows. This is all to be expected... what I don't like, however, is the way the keyboards/samples in this (and many other black metal recordings), striving for a certain 'naturalness' of tone, fall completely short of this goal and sound so utterly modern - listen to the 'Pied Piper' piccolo introduction of 'Carpathian Mysteries', which could also be Willy Wonka summoning the oompaloompas. Once again, it's a matter of economics (rubles?)- the better the synth equipment, the less it sounds like a keyboard... another paradox? At this early point in their career, NM certainly couldn't be expected to have a production aesthetic/electronic apparatus that fit their grandiose designs... I'm pleased that the music more than makes up for these faults in execution with its ambition, its sheer scope and breadth of evocative power. This band, more than any other still laying claim to that obsolete (and all-too narrow) categorical definition of 'black metal', are able to evade all obstacles and put their imaginative designs down on tape. However muted, the intended effect still shines through. Even at this early stage, pagan-leaning compositions like the title track and 'Perun's Celestial Silver' more than adequately demonstrate this group's illustrative power - entire dimensions of sound, light, and atmosphere are created for the listener to lose him/herself in. Later releases would find NM reaching a point of eloquent mastery with this. And while beneath the overt, surface effects (down in the depths, underwater, with the drums, bass, and guitars) things are more than traditional - indeed almost reactionary - it's the keyboards that make this band, hand-in-hand with the progressive, open-ended, expansive song structures. Again, this is what I was referring to when I opened this review by saying that Nokturnal Mortum, in the beginning, mainly borrowed melodic ideas and sounds from folk influences... only later did the structures of indigenous music - the chants, sing-alongs, anthems, choruses, etc. - actually have a formal emphasis in their song-writing process and in the simple architecture of their music. Listen to their last album and you will hear the truth of this.

So, mainly traditional black metal here (or what is known as 'traditional' now), albeit the stylistic approach is not really primarily riff-based ('Carpathian Mysteries' is an exception) as much as it is created in terms of a classical or 'symphonic' composition: a long, flowing, ever-changing stream of melodic impulses, reined in under the aegis of a single theme and its variations (very close to Emperor's 'In The Nightside Eclipse'), and then given rhythmic power by a panzer snare/bass drum fusillade, ticking away like a dozen metronomes. I think this is either a drum machine by itself, or a machine in league with a human drummer, the tracks set over each other Bathory-style. All very soothing, all smooth sides, curves, gradual accelerations - nothing jagged, abrupt, rude, crass, out of place. The material bears the signature of countless lost hours spent honing its polish to a silver sheen. It goes down without a hitch, once the song themes proper kick in, and I have swallowed the lump in my throat caused by bells, bongos, unnatural bird cries and piping forest dwellers. A spoonful of raging guitars helps the homeopathic medicine go down.

A few melodies are even sentimental...again listen to the opening of 'Carpathian Mysteries', which speaks of regret and wishes for past glory, before the sleazy main rock riff comes in to set the cymbals twittering. A few turns of this, and then we are back again in Emperor territory, before Emperor even knew they would be here.

This is a curt demonstration, but the truth is that the notion of Byronic regret, of mourning for the past, fits in so well in the Romantic framework with folk references or nature-worship that NM could not ignore it... or they would ignore it at their own peril. As they are from Ukraine, and so seen as perpetual outsiders, these sorts of lyrical/thematic illustrations are second-nature to them. What else would they possibly feature in their songs?

While I can't exactly trace, right now, the original lineage of these ideas - where precisely the 'lost paradise of the past' motif was introduced into black metal, it's enough to register the fact that it is completely par for the course to include such world-weary flavorings now if one is going to write a black album, and that one's audience would feel a little displaced if they weren't given these topics or recurrent strains to latch onto. I wonder, though, how many people really feel the same way as Nokturnal Mortum when it comes to this subject? Can Americans feel this way? Can we legitimately mourn the past, ancient tradition, the world of our ancestors? Or is this all just emotional, and I am making a mistake in appealing to the rational - to real history?

Still, what I enjoy the most about this band - what I have always mentioned in my reviews of their material - is the way they attempt to 'open up' the listening space, letting it breathe, trying to push the boundaries further and further back, that stale 180 degrees from ear to ear... later, on 'To The Gates of Blasphemous Fire', I think they achieve a revolution with this constant ambition. A small changing of the guard, passed off without anyone really noticing, but a distinct switch in priorities nonetheless: listen to that album compared to this, the way the production emphasizes the width/girth of the band's sound, its all-encompassing breadth, the wide open spaces of its harmonic potential...listen to the way the music has evolved, how it swarms on so many levels at once, and moves along, living, expiring, like the passing of a comet, a crumbling civilization, a dark star, a dying planet falling past in the night, screaming.

'...And Winter Becomes' (Becomes what? I need the lyrics!) is the middle of this recording, a song that opens up with a very nice marching keyboard klaxon, a sort of maudlin call to war, stirring nonetheless, but which quickly degenerates into an alternation of by-the-numbers black metal strumming and Amorphis lead meandering. The most annoying part of this is, once again, the synths, which just sound so out of place...in the intros, confined to simple evocative melodies, everything proceeds smoothly, but when they are unleashed as quick frenzied bursts, in a percussive manner, I can't help but think of those demonstrations they give in shopping malls of the 'authenticity' of synth sounds... which means, of course, they don't sound authentic at all. When keyboards aren't being set to mimic something, whether it is a choral sampling, strings, brass, or whatever, when they are just left with that neutral flourescent obviously electronic 'almost-piano' sound...I shudder... is there anyone who actually enjoys those tones? Again, though, this is an old recording... you have to expect that certain improvements have been made in technique and quality. Here the electronics, what NM use to mainly picture the forest awakening, or the coming of night, is later transformed into a synthetic onslaught, the abyss opening wide, the tortures of the damned rising to the ear in blissful waves...

One of the highlights here is their original take on Celtic Frost's 'Sorrow of the Moon', from Into The Pandemonium, which switches the instrumentation and tempos around a little, making the structure their own. The fuzzy, rough recording of this only enhances its 'occult' paranoia and death-drive... and is it just me, or is most of the mix sent to the left side? I must be imagining that. This isn't really the song that I would have covered if I was in this band ('Babylon Fell' or 'Inner Sanctum', I think, would be much more appropriate), but it's instructive, interesting, both as to the source of their influences and the ways in which they can manipulate their own style.

So, for the rest of the album, it's really just more of the same. Fast, open, swelling, grandiose, Tolkienesque (meaning strangely close to Summoning at times) atmospheric black metal with a variety of interludes, intros, etc. that set the mood for the song proper. Nothing absolutely extraordinary, but an excellent record (meaning: a capturing of time and place) of where Nokturnal Mortum originated from, and a virtual clinic in the use of black metal synths... it's good this was finally put on disc.

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

Lunar Poetry is Nokturnal Mortum's second demo, released after their rather decent Twilightfall. This demo is very different from the previous one as the band clearly realized they want to play black metal.

What makes this release outstanding are the keyboards. They are heavily used, but don't sound lame at any point of the album which unfortunately is usually how black metal keyboards sound. Their theme varies between a typical folksy sound and more symphonic sounding one. They help create the atmosphere a lot. Despite being very important, they don't overshadow the guitars, which is what would later happen on Goat Horns. The guitars are excellent on this release as well, mainly in the solos and especially on title track, but we have very decent, classic black metal riffs as well. I didn't notice much bass, but where I did it was good. Drums are another big plus of the album as the drummer is very skilled and the way he changes the tempo of the songs is amazing.

Varggoth's vocals aren't as outstanding as the instrumental side of the album, however they are still good and what matters more is they fit the music very well. Besides the usual growling, we have some clean vocals, whispering, and spoken words. The lyrics for this album haven't been released (bar Perun's Celestial Silver that appears on the NeChrist album in a different version) and you can't really understand them besides a few single words. You can hear some English, but the spoken part in The Grief of Oriana is clearly in Russian/Ukrainian.

The tracks are around 5 minutes long and there are a few pure keyboard parts (the intro, The Grief of Oriana, the second part of Autodafe/Barbarian Dreams). There's a long bonus track that appears on cd re-release that's very good, but fits more onto Goat Horns, I'd say. We have a Celtic Frost cover which is the only average piece on this album. There's a cold, dark atmosphere on this album, something NM have lost after Goat Horns and the keyboards help created it to a large degree.

Overall, this is one of best (if not the best) album in this sub genre of black metal, and my favourite metal album with keyboards plays an important part. It's the best of all their releases and is probably the one you'll want to hear first when getting into this band. All the tracks are amazing besides the cover which isn't that bad either.

I'm not entirely sure how people have managed to this mistake this for an exciting piece of work, but nonetheless, they’ve done it. In essence, Lunar Poetry simply combines Rotting Christ’s early output whilst attempting some typical touches of Norwegian styled ferocity, often shamelessly in the same song. Simply put, it would have been a neat idea if they’d actually pulled it off. But as we know, that idea in your head doesn’t always come out of your amplifier in the same way once you've finished breakfast and tuned your guitar. ‘Perun’s Celestial Silver’, for instance, switches noticeably from our Hellenic heroes’ rather neat melodic style to a - painfully controlled - stab at Emperor’s chaotic early style as best shown on their early EPs. And then we’re back again, to mournful melodic passages - you’d want to think of grand, sweeping landscapes and endless Carpathian mountains but in truth you’re stuck focusing on how you’ve heard this all before - albeit over the course of several different releases - and how much the singer sucks.

Though the song construction is painfully obvious it would be quite jarring, that is, if only the overall effect wasn’t so neutered that it proved to be somewhat almost pleasant; black metal background noise, pretty melodies and a production job that aims to tickle rather than exact anything more forcefully over the listener. See, Nokturnal Mortum, at this stage in their career are contented will simply playing homage to a couple of bands and making some nice melodies - yes, the days of NeChrist’s horrid integration (see: laughable folk parts) are only hinted at presently, any scarring they may cause is far off, really. Honestly, being not-so-subtly reminded of other cool bands in a sort of ham-fisted way is not so terrible, and in my time as a metal listener I’ve certainly suffered far worse fates… hell, I’m even a sucker for guitar harmonies and the way two guitarists can play off each other - so I can gain a moderate amount of enjoyment from songs like ‘Carpathian Mysteries’. Apparently, the band are very proud of their Ukrainian origins - in that way which often makes for moderately interesting night-time television - but you’d just wish they’d do something with that pride to, you know, maybe give them something that stands out… because as far as I’m aware Ukrainian culture - despite my knowledge of its history starting and ending with that time there wasn’t much cabbage on the table because Uncle Joe holds minor grudges - isn’t a haphazard mish-mash of ideas pinched from their Hellenic and Norwegian brethren.

I don’t know, really, this whole thing leaves me quite cold. Not perhaps in the “seeking wonderment and solace in nature, whilst still not liking the brown people” way that Lunar Poetry would like me to, but rather just being unimpressed by the band’s tacky songwriting and shameless plagiarism (and if you’re needing verification on that start playing ‘The Fifth Illusion’ after ‘…And Winter Becomes’). Any musician knows there’s no shame in paying homage, however, there is when you’re so damned unimaginative about it. Also, stretching that ever-obvious Rotting Christ comparison there’s the notable fact that both bands didn’t have real drums at this point; with RC you just are left to focus on how great the guitar playing is, Nokturnal Mortum just have their adequacies exposed rather openly.

Why there is some infatuation and greatly heated reactions to such a tepidly dull album I can’t really say. I don’t outright hate it, and though Nokturnal Mortum seem to be a dull band, in fact they’re pretty lucky they have some sort of cult mystique surrounding them or else they’d only have their plain songwriting to get by with. It’s not Belle & Sebastian black metal but nonetheless it’s still not going to improve your day in any way by having heard it. Who knows, maybe because it’s so very close to the sounds of good music that - at times - you might mistake it for good music? As it turns out you need a lot more than bm pleasantries and a penchant for ear candy to make something with real staying power. You can't expect too much from a band who'd cover one of Celtic Frost's fruitiest songs, though.

One of the greatest things about heavy metal music is that there are so many gems hidden within the underground. To call oneself a metal-head and not have heard Master of Puppets or Reign In Blood is simply inexcusable. But there are many other hidden jewels tucked away from the general public’s eyes that are on par if not better than the classic masterpieces that preceded them. Albums like Drawings Of The Dead by Mangled Torsos, or Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness by Green Carnation. These are records that aren’t known by just about everybody in my age group (a senior in high school), which is a shame because these releases are simply amazing, and everyone I show these CDs to has agreed with me. Lunar Poetry however, is something else entirely. When listening to other classics for the first time, the realization that what one has in their hands is an actual treasure, brings a sudden rush of euphoria to the listener. Whereas listening to Lunar Poetry is more akin to the realization that because of this treasure, your family may never go hungry again. Translated so that [some] other people who might happen to be my age can read this: Ya hit tha mufuckin’ jackpot bitch!

Musically, this album differs from a lot of other black metal albums in that there is actually a lot of shredding. This is one of those things that set Lunar Poetry apart from other black metal recordings. Another standout is the keyboardist. The music in general is stellar, but the keys add a lot to what is already quite impressive. The keays are also pretty inspiring because they manage to sound very folky. Nokturnal Mortum did very well with what they had, as now they have graduated to real folk instruments, but the new music ironically just isn’t as good. The drumming is varied, sometimes the drummer plays his normal drum set, other times he plays drums that have a tribal sound to them. This tribal vibe fits in perfectly with the feel of the album however, as the entire album actually sounds like it was recorded by pagans in the wild. This leads to the most important aspect of the album: the atmosphere.

I still have never heard an atmosphere that comes close to Lunar Poetry’s. The recording quality is poor as were many black metal albums at the time. This album, however, has a lot of reverb. A lot… of reverb. This is most present in the vocals. The vocals have literally been saturated with so much reverb that sometimes it is impossible to tell where a word starts and ends because it echoes so much. This coupled with the raw quality of the music gives everything an overall primal feel. Very primitive and very natural. Unlike many other folk metal albums where one gets the feeling of preparing for battle, or raping and pillaging, or exploring the seas in a longboat, Lunar Poetry feels more like being at a legitimate pagan ritual. There, people come together to celebrate, and to make music for deeper reasons than mere artistic expression. That’s the atmosphere, and that’s what makes this CD so special; there is so much room for the music to bounce around in, that it eventually sucks you in with it. Whereas the atmosphere on an album by a band like Amon Amarth feels like shooting up an unlaced shot of pure viking adrenaline, the atmosphere on Lunar Poetry more or less envelopes the listener, and transports them to another time and place. Rather than feeling like a pagan warrior, one feels that he or she is a pagan warrior, dancing around a fire on some snowy mountain-top.

Like a GWAR concert or a Sunn O))) concert, Lunar Poetry is something that just simply has to be experienced in order to be understood properly. Many people steer clear of this and the rest of Nokturnal Mortum’s discography because of the band’s political beliefs: Nokturnal Mortum are Nazis. In case one missed my screen name, I am Jewish. I’ve been Bar Mitzvah’d and everything. So even though later on in their career, the band would pen the song The Call Of Aryan Spirit, I look past that and all of Knjaz’s stupid side projects, because of this album. Lunar Poetry changed the way I look at music. If I can appreciate this music then anyone can, regardless of politics.

This album caught my eye a while ago, mainly because of the aesthetically pleasing artwork. I would have no idea that the content of the album would be just as good. This album really has everything; it has atmosphere, interesting songs, harsh vocals, clean vocals the lot.

Firstly for the music, overall, it’s great, it’s filled with dreamy synths and intense guitar riffing. The most notable examples of this can be found on Lunar Poetry and Perun's Celestial Silver. Lunar Poetry transports me every time I listen to it, to a snow covered forest in Ukraine, while Perun's Celestial Silver, has some really nice dreamy synths mixed with insanely fast guitar riffing. With songs like this on the album, it's no wonder that this album is considered by many Nokturnal Mortum fans, to be Nokturnal Mortum's Magnum Opus and it's not hard to see why. All the songs on this album are delivered with passion, skill and most importantly sincerity. It is clear that these guys were intent on delivering an album as great as this.

The vocals are also quite good. Knjaz really does a good job here. They are harsh and mix in with the music quite well. However don't bother to try and understand what he's saying apart from a few words like: "Ancient Nation", because this album is by no means heavy. So the vocals are quite hard the lyrics are quite hard, if not impossible to hear. However this does not weaken the album at all, I mean who really cares if you can't understand what he's saying anyway, they still sound good. (Apparently Nokturnal Mortum did not write down the lyrics because at the time, they spoke very poor English and would be embarrassed by the poor grammar in the lyrics.) There are also clean vocals on the album. They actually bear a striking resemblance to Saruman in Peter Jackson's LOTR. That is the time when they are on the mountain and he starts singing to bring down the mountain. If you can remember this then you will know what the vocals sound like. Clean vocals are always a good thing on an album (unless you are a GOD DAM AWFUL singer) and here it is no exception. The clean vocals really do add to the variety and enjoyment of this album. I don't know if Knjaz does the vocals though, they don't sound like him, so I'm not sure if it's him or not.

The atmosphere on this album again is another great thing about this album. The album is accompanied by a very cold atmosphere, of course aided by the bad production really makes this a dark and compelling listen and again, makes the album more enjoyable.

I would strongly recommend this album to anyone who likes atmospheric black metal. This is without question, a flawless album. I have had this album for several months now and no matter how many times I listen to it, it never gets old. Every part of this album is perfect and could not be improved upon in anyway. This really shows Nokturnal Mortum at their finest.

I haven't grown tired of listening to this album since I first heard it, and being the first material of Nokturnal Mortum I ever heard, it left me wanting more and more. I don't want to get into the whole discography or anything but I must say that this is a standout album, with none of the others quite reaching the extacy that is Lunar Poetry. If you haven't listened to it yet, shoot yourself, then get your hands on it because this album is one of the greatest black metal albums ever. You won't find the original, unfortunately, since very few copies were made, but the 2001 version offered the chance to own this treasure for people who weren't hanging around the Ukraine in the early 90's. The cold and dark feel of this album is skillfully weaved by the intricate keyboard sounds with a batallion of electronic (although it's very hard to tell) drums and raging guitars. The vocals are typical black metal, lots of reverb and not much variation, except some parts where they use clear viking type vocals which adds to the folkloric feel of this album. The first track "Tears of Paganism" is probably the best intro to an album I've ever heard, very creepy and interesting. The 2001 version comes with some bonus tracks at the end, aparently recorded before the original demo recordings because they are very low quality but I very much like the fact that they included them. Once again I strongly recommend you listen to this album because I think that it's a shame that it's not more known among the metal community.