Review by Lynxie on December 27, 2022.

Nachtblut have always been a guilty pleasure for me. I can still recall the first thought I had when I heard the band’s most popular song Antik on their Chinese playchart. I was relatively new to metal and was extremely confused by the vocals. And then for well nigh half a year I consider them as a really ,,trve” and ,,evil” band. But by the time Vanitas was released, I’d known better - I sort of matured alongside the band. And needless to say it was a satisfying process. Besides, it’s not everyday you find a band that is of the same age as you are.

Nachtblut’s style went through several changes throughout the years. Their debut and sophomore album leaned more to the melodic black metal side with a resemblance to Cradle of Filth. And then you also get Chimonas, mixing a bit of blackened death and symphonic black. The band’s taste for synth first showed in Dogma and then went mayhem in Apostasie, hence the strong and mildly annoying Rammstein likeness in the latter. And now? Now we have Vanitas. Needless to say this is probably the band’s most mature release. Whereas before they were experimenting, the band seem to have finally found its style, or its mixed style of gothic and black metal.

The intro Veritas managed to set up a dark atmosphere. And then followed up by the title track , a very typical black metal song with downright heavy and banging riffs. Leierkind had took a more folksy, more In Extremo approach. This is definitely one of the more stylistically interesting tracks of the album (and truly made me fantasize about the day when they’d wrote a power metal song). Das Puppenhaus went straight to the gothic metal side - hanging out with Chris Harms seems to have its due influence. And I dare say that melody was brainwashing. You can dance to Nur in der Nacht if you want, the band’s taste for the 90s disco music still ran strong in that song. Luckily they reined it in this time. The other numbers on the album falls more on the melodic black metal side. My favorite track on the album is probably the seven-minute Die Toten vergessen nicht. It has its roots back in Die Schritte and Und immer wenn die Nacht anbricht, but this time they had managed to keep up a strong instrumental side and hence making it the most epic and beautiful in the bands discography. Its melody actually reminds me of songs off Summoning’s Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame.

The keyboard and orchestration work throughout the album is something truly worth praising. In fact, Vanity’s had an overall smoother and more precise synth work, especially comparing to their last album. It just adds to the epicness and enhances the guitar like those in Fürchtet was geschrieben steht.

I guess Nachtblut is not your average melodic black metal. They may not be the best existing, but if you want some diversity, then Vanitas is something you shouldn’t miss.

Highlights:
'Vanitas'
'Leierkinder'
'Das Puppenhaus'
'Meine Grausamkeit kennt keine Grenzen'
'Die Toten vergessen nicht'

Rating: 8 out of 10