Review by Alex on February 24, 2020.

Such would come as a thing of sorrow that a bond so ideal be interrupted and put at an inactive halt; be the way a unit of this magnitude bury the work they contrived. Forever a lamenting moment to those who have gazed with Ævangelist into the void of fragmenting thoughts and reflections dismal. But the flame somehow lives through the windy tide of events threatening to close forever this wormhole of miseries delightful. Now relocated to Finland, despite the dispute between two beings taking separate paths through being at loggerheads, the journey to depths and worlds unspoken, continues as the eyelids shut with the flickering burial of luminescence, "Nightmarecatcher" follows "Dream an Evil Dream II", entrancingly engineered by Matron Thorn with the services of Stéphane Gerbaud on vocals. What dimensions' doors were these frequencies able to pry apart in restless suspense of what things would come dancing with steady pace from a freak of realms. Let the unorthodoxy taint and fetch your soul to an atomic blackness bewitched and bellicose. The forced entry of a phantasmic prism in which a being starved of earthly pleasures is unbelievably a slave within its own world as only the guest can instigate the darkened erotic advent.

Split in 3, are images unrecognizable to traditionalism or any form of orthodoxy. Yet still true to the philosophical prospect of darkness within this form of expression, the segmented scatter comes together in forming a spectral piece both hideous and glamorous. Like Reverorum Ib Malacht or Dodfodd and Havohej minus the kick of fury collaboratively invoked but one gasp of the source of dreams then confiscated such to use as an aphrodisiac during incantations, Ævangelist's "Nightmarecatcher" ceases from this force a particle of its silhouette to be used as the fuel behind the dreamy disturbia. A tongue indignant to an act such as this is utilized to admit the follower to the celestial breach. In devout obscurity and opposition to norm, the push towards the ultimatum intensifies but not as you would assume or expect, it is not the thumping snare that mans the operation, rather the ambiance constantly expanding and contracting with an urgency never diminishing. Feel the palpating rhythms immediate the trance introduced from 'I: The Origin and End of All: Pain of the Fallen' then marinates in groove-like bliss, onward to the frightening 'II: Ceremony of Decomposition of Bodies'. Then to sustain and redistribute the essence, the very concentrate of Ævangelist on the final vision 'III: In the Vomb of the Chaos, Source of Life Energy' sees the pillars of the band's new era strengthen its complex arithmetic in atmosphere and intensity, all the while building in preparation for the next step.

Once woven together, to take apart becomes an intricate if not, tedious and frustrating act of dissection. For in this realm far from ordinary and nearing the outskirts of madness and corruption, is situated a technical oeuvre readable yes, but comprehensible no, yet it obstructs not the intimacy of the irreligious trance. A course in black/death metal carpentry in which each brick, each compound and sheath have no difference as far as importance goes is cemented as one to achieve a structure of dominance and sustainability. In unison and strategic guidance a congregation of pulses and sonic vibrations sit with discipline under the thumbprint of an aura unmistakably a mastered character of Ævangelist unsurprisingly continued on "Nightmarecatcher". But also the push towards development has been a strength of theirs that has survived the battle thus making it through this transitioning period in the band's era. Still a callous collusion for the extremes perpetrated by zealots of the craft at this stage; however, be not mistaken for a soul searching session, but a scar upon the surface of one's own sanity and consciousness. This fraternity of Thorn and Gerbaud has brought compelling results and has reassured the masses that Ævangelist's music is still very healthy in doing what the entity has been known to do best. The artifacts of old untouched and unblemished it seems though the material here may have taken a step down in speed to magnify the effect of the spell, and without sacrificing the integrity of the effort Ævangelist is as it were above, it is below.

Rating: 9 out of 10