Weltanschauung

As a young black metal fan, sated of Norwegian black metal, and suitably disillusioned by one-dimensional American ambient black metal, Eastern Europe promised a bold new frontier of artists, as yet untapped. For the British, there’s something mysterious about this large landmass but a few thousand miles away. The land of Dracula and Countess Bathory. The destination for the characters of Algernon Blackwood’s ghost tales, owing to its vast and grim forest landscapes.

Black metal is now an internationally recognised facet of Norwegian culture. But what made their brand of black metal so special was the fact that there was no typical Norwegian style. Emperor, Burzum, Immortal, Darkthrone, all were uniquely different from one another, and all have a long line of different subgenres formed in their wake. For Eastern Europe, the music was linked much closer to a sense of national identity through the very music itself. They took many of the typical techniques of black metal as it was in the mid-1990s and blended them with their own local folk music traditions, and grounded the music in their own pagan history and mythology.

But in the midst of the vast, fog covered forests lie pockets of light, where folk drink and make merry. Enter Nokturanl Mortum, probably one of the happiest sounding bands to have emerged from the Ukrainian black scene. Yet twas not always so. Their early work was defined by dark yet melodic black metal that lent heavily on the use of keyboards and folk flourishes. Then in the mid-2000s everything changed with the release of ‘Weltanschauung’ in 2005. It was something of a watershed moment for the band. It saw Nokturnal Mortum leave the dark and evil aesthetic in favour of a more celebratory take on black metal, heavily influenced by folk music as well prog rock of the 1970s. It paved the way for the now legendary ‘Voice of Steel’ (2009), and is worth exploring for that reason alone.

Although this album ultimately sees Nokturnal Mortum move closer to conventional rock, albeit with a black metal aesthetic, it is still masterfully composed. It is rhythmically energetic, but it sticks close to the cheery folk music which constitute many of the interludes weaved throughout the album. Vocals are still very much in the black metal area, but the lyrics are somewhat audible, and even melodic in their distortion at times. Again, the guitars are heavily distorted, but this is deliberately curtailed to allow the melodies and leads visibility in the mix. One gets the sense that the rough and ready production was a matter of necessity rather than choice, as the epic and triumphalist folk metal they are leaning towards would lend itself to more polished production.

But for all the cheer, this is still a powerful and imposing work. It is far superior to the pop-in-disguise carnival that makes up much of the folk metal brand today. Weltanschauung is a great example of how music can be energetic, and….fun *shudders* but still extreme. By extreme I do not just mean the usual hallmarks of black metal, I am also referring to a certain level of sophistication in composition, an ambition to create lasting music, whose appeal stretches far beyond mere novelty. There may be a few imperfections in the canvas when it comes to ‘Weltanschauung’, but as a first step into a very different world for Nokturnal Mortum it remains impressive. It is folk metal in more than just the use of random instruments and silly costumes, there is power and celebration within the music which is rare within what is otherwise a very black metal album.

This album as a first pass at creating ‘The Voice of Steel’, which for my money is one of the best albums of the century. That alone earns it a place in history.

Originally published at Hate Meditations

You gotta give 'em credit where it's due. Nokturnal Mortum is one of the most important bands in the folkier, pagan style of black metal, and with good reason. Their music is absolutely majestic. "Weltanschauung" was the band's first full-length album since the controversial and somewhat lackluster "NeChrist" released back in 1999. This album debut in 2005 and really showcased a different sound for the band. The music is still epic in nature, no doubt about that. In fact, here, it's far more epic and huge sounding. This album seems less involved with the black metal sound and much more of a folk element is present. This is what epic battles sound like in musical form.

Nokturnal Mortum has managed to sound different with pretty much every album throughout their career. "Twilightfall" and "Lunar Poetry" sound absolutely nothing like one another, and "Goat Horns" may be symphonic like "To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire", but those two albums are insanely different as well. "NeChrist" is more a standard black metal album that just doesn't sound as good as the others, and this album pretty much debuted the pagan folk-oriented sound they use today, although unlike "The Voice of Steel", it sounds a bit rougher here. The guitar tone sounds a bit more buzzy on this album. Is that a bad thing? No, not at all, it's just not as well-produced as their later work. "I Feel the Breath of Ragnarok" and "Hailed Be the Heroes" contain some of the album's most heroic sounding guitar parts. The folky segments aligning with the melodic guitars on the title track also sound pretty damn cool.

Interestingly enough, these songs are all fairly long, discounting the traditional folk interludes. The shortest metal song on this album is "The New Era of Swords" which runs over 7 and a half minutes. The longest is the epic "The Taste of Victory" which nearly reaches the 12 and a half minute mark. This album contains a total of 7 folk interludes counting the intro and outro and 6 metal tracks. The intro to the album contains the oh so familiar horn piece that Nokturnal Mortum has used on quite a few occasions with the albums "NeChrist", this one, and "The Voice of Steel" from 2009. This really shows a central theme in Nokturnal Mortum's music and I for one find that pretty cool. The folk pieces are really interesting themselves although they are all very short and serve only as interludes and connections to the album's main cuts. "Sorrow of Native Lands" is particularly beautiful and pleasing to my ears with its medieval sounding acoustic melodies dancing around the flutes. There are plenty of scenes of battles in these tracks and this keeps the album's central theme of battles and enhances the overall atmosphere greatly.

Varggoth's vocals fit the music quite well. They usually range from growls to screams, to a bit of clean singing here and there. You can also actually understand the lyrics a lot of the time. The lyrics in "Hailed Be the Heroes" really stick out with the vocal style he's using. Like the vocals, the keyboards enhance the music quite a bit as well. Nokturnal Mortum has always utilized the keyboard as a prime instrument, although unlike on "Goat Horns" where they completely overtook the music, they are used in conjunction with the guitars and vocals on this album, and don't bury them in the mix. Here, the keyboards are used to implement the band's folk influence rather than create soaring orchestrations. Instead of symphonic black metal, we get a blackened style of folk/pagan metal this time around.

With this album, Nokturnal Mortum laid out the blueprints for what would eventually transcend into "The Voice of Steel" and what their sound would be evolving into. "Weltanschauung" is a great metal album and works the heroic musical style it radiates extremely well.

Arguabley, Nokturnal Mortum is the most well known Ukrainian black metal band. This is probably because of their very good music. I was really eager to get my hands on a copy of this, I'm not really sure why. However, it was incredibly difficult to find so I hand to settle with the Ukrainian version of the album. This really didn't bother me as it's exactly the same except for the song title and the lyrics. Anyway I buy albums for the music, not the lyrical content.

I was pretty disappointed with NeChrist. It wasn't like any of their previous releases. That album seemed rather half-assed, rushed and insincere. Because of this, it wasn't surprising that NeChrist is considered to be Nokturnal Mortum's worst album. On this album however, a new stance was taken. Not only did they take this album a lot more seriously but also they directed themselves in a folk metal direction. It just goes to show you, when Nokturnal Mortum put their talent to work, they can release some pretty damn good music.

Nokturnal Mortum back when they were a young band, used to release some pretty long songs (take Goat Horns and Twilight Fall, for instance), so I was pretty disappointed when they stopped doing this. They still had some long songs but not like they used to. On Weltanschauung we see a return to the longer songs which is arguably a return to their roots. That's not to same, this album sounds like any other Nokturnal Mortum release, a good thing about Nokturnal Mortum is that they do something different on every album but always manage to maintain a direct sound which allows you to recognise them.

In addition to having the long songs on this album they also have very short songs which are Ukrainian folk songs. These are quite peaceful interludes which are in stark contrast to the aggression of the heavier, longer songs. They can also be quite beautiful, as Stardust has a peaceful atmosphere but has the sounds of battle in the distance, which again is a contrast, the peace and beauty of the music, to the rage of war. Particular note must go to the final song which was never named. This song is very nice to listen and very peaceful. It puts you in a very strange pleasant state if you listen to one song, listen to that.

In summary, this album is one of the best Nokturnal Mortum has ever done. It certainly a step in the right direction and has got them back on the path of "good music". Had they continued in the direction they were heading with NeChrist they might have become quite bad and commercial, Hell, even becoming a sell out band which would be quite ironic for them when you think about it. It certainly is one of their best albums and this album further sets them apart from other Slavonic black metal, both in sound and quality.

Conclusion: The above is recomended for purchase.

Nokturnal Mortum are back to grace us with their fourth full-length album and their first in six years. The album entitled "Weltanschauung" is a step in a new direction for Nokturnal Mortum who have seemingly turned their attentions to playing a more Folk-inspired form of Symphonic Black Metal. Consisting of fourteen tracks and lasting a staggering one hour and fourteen minutes, this is an album which needs to be listened to part by part, which is probably why Nokturnal Mortum have introduced as many filler tracks as they have with this piece.

Something which is clear from the onset is that Nokturnal Mortum are relying a lot of Slavic folk music as an inspiration to their music. Much of this album has a very native Ukrainian feel to it. What with the addition of a variety of instruments it is easy to see where the inspiration has come from. National Socialist Black Metal isn't usually a form of music i like, not because of the values, but because the music generally isn't that good, but not in this case. Nokturnal Mortum's beliefs are fully fledged and open for discussion here. The National Socialist influence is easy to recognise, especially with the battle and glory orientation running throughout the entire album. This is easily noticed through the lengthier tracks on the album.

As previously stated this album contains several interludes, or fillers. These are usually battle scenes, or some sort of ambient depiction of glory and battle combined. These aren't like your usual fillers, they enhance the atmospheric and folk-ish sound to the piece in general whilst showcasing the beliefs of the band. These could been viewed upon as a waste of time considering the lengthier songs have introductions anyway, and because the lengthier songs do a good enough job of adding atmosphere and folk-inspired sounds. Nevertheless, i don't think the listener sound take this into consideration as the longer songs do enough to establish this as probably the best Nokturnal Mortum release.

Vocals range from deathly screams to softer clean vocals. The mixture of vocals is mixed perfectly. The songs rarely leave mid-tempo and the production is spot on. Drumming is tight and accomplished. The riffs are innovative and highly creative, at times they are very catchy too. What we are witnessing manifest before us is possibly the greatest NSBM album since the sub-genre was created.

As someone stated earlier, "The Taste Of Victory" is quite possibly one of the greatest NSBM songs of all time! It truly is that brilliant! Its actually worth hearing the album for that song alone. Other highlights include: Hailed To Be Heroes and I Feel The Breath Of Ragnarok

Well the last review posted had some reasonable views, but none that were proven...

Although Nokturnal Mortum is known for their folk and unique style of NSBM, a lot of it was due to the band being such BM elitist. As much as I like Black Metal, I don't like close minded bands. For a while, I wondered how NM would sound if they changed it up a little, new vocals (But Only Done By Varggoth), faster and clearer riffs, faster drumming, so that whoever listens to it can appreciate it for the instrumental aspect and not only the idealistic value of the band.

This was Nokturnal Mortum's first album that broke away from that, the vocals are heavier (Somewhat resembling light DM), the instrument is better produced, and riffs and melodies as far as I can tell in some of the songs, are a lot better. The intro isn't 11 minutes long like some of their others, so new NM listeners won't get discourged. Finally, they kept their lyrical themes the same as always. I really like how they included some riffs and sound affects from other albums. It didn't take me more than a second to pick up on the horns played from The Funeral Wind Born In Oriana in the intro of Weltanschauung! Track 6, Hail Be The Heroes, has a great riff in the beginning followed by folk techniques, including the riff that any NM fan loves, from the song Kolyada on Goat Horns.

I will say, and this goes out to the last reviewer, that it isn't at all the same as Lunar Poetry or NeChrist. But would you honestly want it to be? Those albums are priceless, whether NM or any other band try to make another album like them, I don't think it'd be possible. Sometimes bands make really good albums which you listen to first and nothing else from them can top it. This album does show Nokturnal Mortum in a different style and perspective, but I think it works for them in some ways and some not. My girlfriend, who has always hated NM, finally admitted that she like this album. Hopefully this will open a new window for people who didn't like them before. Either way, NM will always be one of the greatest National Socialist Black Metal bands, \m/

The first full length album from Nokturnal Mortum in many years, and what a great one this is. Nokturnal Mortum are back, and progressing on with their newer sound heard on The Taste of Victory. There are many who wish for the old days of Lunar Poetry or Goat Horns, but this is a fools dream and those whom wish such things clearly do not understand the vision that Nokturnal Mortum has. Luckily we are not treated to another NeChrist or any previous work, but rather three tracks from their previous release and three new tracks. Amidst these tracks are various ambient and folk pieces which will remind some of such bands as Piorun and even some Burzum (Track 14). Weltanschauung shows that the band is not going to be cornered into playing the same type of music for the rest of their career, and that alone deserves a great deal of credit. It is an even greater accomplishment that this band can grow and expand their sound without creating a weak and overall false sound. The folk elements on Weltanschauung are the most ever found on a Nokturnal Mortum release, and they work very well to the sound and overall message that is being given. Each track seems to offer something different, but maintain the sound that has become quite "unique" to the band. Hailed Be The Heroes comes across as something similar to Varggoth's other projects and Nokturnal Mortum, and to me that can only be a good thing.

The use of battle sounds both old and new symbolize a great deal throughout the album, and flow perfectly from song to song. Infact I would go as far to say that this is one of the best uses of battle sounds on an album that does not sound completely ridiculous, and overall "cheesy". It is clear that the folk influence is taking a greater role on newer works by Nokturnal Mortum, and many of the black metal children do not appreciate this. They will also not appreciate that Nokturnal Mortum is no longer abusing the keyboards throughout the songs because of this, but in my opinion the folk instruments are even greater than the false keyboards used in the past. The album speaks of glory and sadness of the past and present, and the music clearly represents these topics. Even the title of the album seems much more mature and fitting to the band rather than something like Goat Horns or Lunar Poetry, but this is just another example of how the band has matured and progressed.

Now there will be nay sayers who will complain day and night about how they do not like the new sound of Nokturnal Mortum, and how they are starting to sound like "every other NSBM band from around that area!". The people are clearly uninformed and do not understand either the band or the purpose of the music. Some will say that the band has gone too far in regards to the National Socialist movement that they are now producing worthless propaganda without any spirit. Yet there is just as much spirit here as there was on Lunar Poetry or Goat Horns, and in fact the album has more spirit concerning the subject matter that is being writen about. The only low point of the album is that the Ukrainian/Russian lyrics were translated into English, and this weakens the songs that were on The Taste of Victory. Other than this the album is near flawless in comparison to their previous work, and I look forward to more albums progressing rather than rehashing the same sound. I would recommend this album to anyone who is a fan of folk/black metal, and even Nokturnal Mortum fans who have an open mind and are not lost in the Black Metal mindset. Hail to the heroes, and death to the weak.