Search - Nokturnal Mortum :: Goat Horns

Nokturnal Mortum
Goat Horns
Genres: Rock, Metal

Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
1. Black Moon Overture
2. Kuyaviya
3. Goat Horns
4. Unholy Orathania
5. Veles' Scrolls
6. Kolyada
7. Eternal Circle

Nokturnal Mortum dwells in one of the darkest and forsaken realms of the underground. Emanating from Ukraine they have become legends in their ancient lands and are now ready to sweep the rest of us. In seven opuses they f... more »eature beauty in its darkest and most extreme form. What can be described as lunar black metal they take on a majestic journey that combines devastating metal, with folklore and classical elements. An amalgam of pagan and eerie melodies this is a legendary epic; a grandiose masterpiece that only Nokturnal Mortum can deliver in what is wickedly entitled "Goat Horns" ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: The story began on 31/12/91 with the birth of the band Suppuration (Unholy Death Metal) with main members being Knjaz Varggoth, Munruthel & Xaarquath. Their first release was "Ecclesiastical Blasphemy" in 1992, and was distributed by Shiver Records in Belgium. After Sataroth joined the band in '92 as vocalist they recorded "Unspeakable Journey Into Subconscious World" ('93). In April '93 Wortherax (guitar) joined the band and the following month they recorded "Cosmic Flight Around Astralspher". The demo was supposed to be out as 7" EP on The Final Holocaust Records, but the label collapsed and Suppuration died in the summer of the same year. Still, as of Autumn '93 there was a new band Crystaline Darkness (Black Metal) in place. Line-up included Knjaz Varggoth - voc/guit, Karpath - guit. & Munruthel - drums. Having recorded the "Mi Agama Khaz Mifisto" demo the band negotiated with View Beyond Records (Czechia). Then in 1994 former Suppuration members got together and recorded the "Twilightfall" demo under a new name which was finally set as Nokturnal Mortum. In the end of '94-early'95 the legendary "Lunar Poetry" demo was created and recorded. The MC was released in Spring'96 by MetalAgen Records. Shortly after release Wortherax left and was replaced by Karpath and Saturious, as a second keyboard player. In the summer'96 the second album "Goat Horns" was recorded (released in Spring'97 by MetalAgen on MC). In December of the same year, "Return Of The Vampire Lord" EP was recorded. It included brand new title song + 2 songs of Crystaline Darkness ("Mi Agama 'haz Mifisto", "Crystaline Darkness"). This EP was originally to be released by MetalAgen Records as a split-MC with Lucifugum (Ukraine) but the band cut short any relations with the label. In 1997, Nokturnal Mortum recorded "To The Gates Of Blasphemous Fire" album and "Marble Moon" EP that included the Ukrainian folk song "Lastivka". At the same time the band signed with The End Records (USA) and agreed to release all Nokturnal Mortum albums on CDs. The first release was "Goat Horns" on March 31, 1998. The new album "To The Gates Of Blasphemous Fire" is to be released March 1, 1999!

CD Details

All Artists: Nokturnal Mortum
Title: Goat Horns
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: End Records
Original Release Date: 3/31/1998
Release Date: 3/31/1998
Genres: Rock, Metal
Style: Death Metal
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 654436600329

Synopsis

Album Description

Nokturnal Mortum dwells in one of the darkest and forsaken realms of the underground. Emanating from Ukraine they have become legends in their ancient lands and are now ready to sweep the rest of us. In seven opuses they feature beauty in its darkest and most extreme form. What can be described as lunar black metal they take on a majestic journey that combines devastating metal, with folklore and classical elements. An amalgam of pagan and eerie melodies this is a legendary epic; a grandiose masterpiece that only Nokturnal Mortum can deliver in what is wickedly entitled "Goat Horns" ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: The story began on 31/12/91 with the birth of the band Suppuration (Unholy Death Metal) with main members being Knjaz Varggoth, Munruthel & Xaarquath. Their first release was "Ecclesiastical Blasphemy" in 1992, and was distributed by Shiver Records in Belgium. After Sataroth joined the band in '92 as vocalist they recorded "Unspeakable Journey Into Subconscious World" ('93). In April '93 Wortherax (guitar) joined the band and the following month they recorded "Cosmic Flight Around Astralspher". The demo was supposed to be out as 7" EP on The Final Holocaust Records, but the label collapsed and Suppuration died in the summer of the same year. Still, as of Autumn '93 there was a new band Crystaline Darkness (Black Metal) in place. Line-up included Knjaz Varggoth - voc/guit, Karpath - guit. & Munruthel - drums. Having recorded the "Mi Agama Khaz Mifisto" demo the band negotiated with View Beyond Records (Czechia). Then in 1994 former Suppuration members got together and recorded the "Twilightfall" demo under a new name which was finally set as Nokturnal Mortum. In the end of '94-early'95 the legendary "Lunar Poetry" demo was created and recorded. The MC was released in Spring'96 by MetalAgen Records. Shortly after release Wortherax left and was replaced by Karpath and Saturious, as a second keyboard player. In the summer'96 the second album "Goat Horns" was recorded (released in Spring'97 by MetalAgen on MC). In December of the same year, "Return Of The Vampire Lord" EP was recorded. It included brand new title song + 2 songs of Crystaline Darkness ("Mi Agama 'haz Mifisto", "Crystaline Darkness"). This EP was originally to be released by MetalAgen Records as a split-MC with Lucifugum (Ukraine) but the band cut short any relations with the label. In 1997, Nokturnal Mortum recorded "To The Gates Of Blasphemous Fire" album and "Marble Moon" EP that included the Ukrainian folk song "Lastivka". At the same time the band signed with The End Records (USA) and agreed to release all Nokturnal Mortum albums on CDs. The first release was "Goat Horns" on March 31, 1998. The new album "To The Gates Of Blasphemous Fire" is to be released March 1, 1999!

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CD Reviews

I Am Absolutely Speechless...

p_drl | 03/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nokturnal Mortum... Overhyped Nazi junk, or absolutely genius symphonic/folk black metal? I'll take the latter choice, personally.

Integrating their bloodline's pride into their music, NM make use of TWO (yes, two) keyboards throughout the album with enchanting string passages, folkish melodies, and tumbling pianos and pizzacato strings. Much, if not all, of the album is dominated by keyboards. BM purists may scoff at this and dismiss NM as a CoF rip-off with a Nazi gimmick. But this masterpiece surpassed all of my expectations. I have never heard such emotion put into audio, alongside Burzum, Ildjarn, and select others. Varrgoth's slighty distorted and anguished rasps let the listener envision ancient Pagan rituals on a dark summer night ages ago. The guitars don't play a huge role here, but use a tasteful distortion, and often back the keyboards with strong and almost catchy melodies. The musicianship is simply superb, especially with the highly skilled keyboardists, steady guitars, and the techno-like pulsating of the drum machine's bass drum. (Actually, they use an electronic drum set, but it's close enough.)

The atmosphere here is absolutely indescribable. The guitars and keys fade in and out and weave beautiful melodies that will suck you straight into the music. A tranquil and magical atmosphere permeates the entire record, especially on the title and the closing intrumental, "Eternal Circle". Acoustic guitars are often hidden behind all the patterns, creating somewhat of an ambience coupled with the extravagant keyboard work.

All the songs are amazing, but the high points come with the epic title track, and by far the 11-minute novel-like song "Veles' Scrolls", which has a mind-biggling song structure, and shows that the band probably spent months, if not years composing. Truly beautiful, its moods change, but remains tranquil in true NM style. All songs use layered keyboards to acherive the ultimate connection emotionally with the listener, and creates a suttle mood.

I would highly reccommend this to fans of bands like Summoning, Agalloch, Ulver, Burzum, or even older Dimmu Borgir material. This is without a doubt one of my favorite CD's ever. This is symphonic black metal at its peak. Amazing."

I wish I had more words to describe this beauty...

ka0z | Forest Hills, NY | 09/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it refers to Black Metal, but I'm still wondering how come I never heard of Nokturnal Mortum before. Of course, one thing is that this band hails from Ukraine, a country seemingly unknown for their worldwide acknowledged music. Up until recently, I was still unaware of this gem of a band, hibernating in the cold dephts of Ukraine. But I wont go into the long band description/biography (since I researched about it alot :), I'll just add a peculiar note, this band features 2 keyboardists. And two talented bastards. From the opening of Black Moon Overture, you can hear the beautiful and intrincate melodies could put Mozart and Bach to shame. But the second track, is where the Black Metal magic starts. Knjaz Varggoth has this 'deep' rasp, not as screamy, but deeper than the usual BM rasp. This is an ultimate Black Metal album. It's brutal, yet its melodic. Everywhere in the album, traces of Ukranian folklore music can be heard, best exemplified by track 6, Kolyada. This music is mindbogglingly complex, and arranging all these sounds into one homogeneously sounding music is extremely difficult. The album is produced flawlessly, although a bit more crisp guitars would be desired, however everything adds up to the atmosphere. This is what Emperor would probably sound like, had Mortiis stayed and influenced it.Making a long story short, Nokturnal Mortum had produced one of the best melodic folk Black Metal albums I have ever heard. Goat Horns is something that you DO NOT wan't to miss, if you're reading this, you're obviously interested, as some reviewer before said, if you won't get it, you'll leave your life in misery knowing you missed the oportunity to listen to this absolutely AMAZING album. Goat Horns is some of the finest Black Metal albums I've heard in years.On a side note, check out Knjaz Vorggoth's side-project, Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra - The Key to the Gates of Apocalypse. It's ambient/melodic Black Metal, in the vein of Goat Horns. Stunning stuff."

One Of The Best Albums Ever Made

J. Rodriguez | New York | 09/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I downloaded the song Kolyada, and that drew me into this wonderful and amazing band. You may have heard that these guys are Nazis or whatever, but i dont know or care anything about that. Whatever they believe doesnt take away from the fact that this is perfection in musical form.

The bass is sick, the drums are amazing and the keyboards are the greatest you will ever hear. The guitar sound is kind of played down, but the keyboards and bass are the dominating factors of the album anwyay.

Great instruments, epic songs, what more do you need? Every track is a winner. This cd should be mandatory in any music fans collection!"