Review by Felix on June 12, 2023.

Mexican food is often too spicy for my bland Central European palate. But food for the ears is always welcome and therefore I am happy that I can review Nigrum’s full-length from 2022. First thought: their morbid opener 'Haunting Fields' – the 'Prologue' is just an intro – sounds like Watain without commercial intentions. Right from the beginning, I am listening to guitar tones which want to give an acoustic appearance to a bone-chilling cold and morbid thoughts are released naturally. The production adds an apocalyptic touch of total blackness. No doubt, this is an adequate beginning for a black metal output.

Nigrum’s first sign of life was published in 2016. Given this fact, it is no big surprise that Elevenfold Tail does not lack comparatively complex yet still clear song patterns. The relatively big number of breaks is no problem, because the artists have found ways to integrate them very cleverly. Thus, they present a pretty elaborate work, but fortunately this approach is not at the expense of spontaneity. The mega-killer 'Murderer, Dweller' delivers a prime example for the energy, explosiveness and fire of Elevenfold Tail. If the somersaulting beginning of this track fails to draw you into the album, you are immune against Nigrum’s vision of black metal. What a pity (for you).

By the way, due to whatever reasons the debut is ice-cold and blazing hot at the same time. This speaks for the production, which sounds clear enough to reflect the precision of the band and dirty enough to indicate the band’s belonging to the underground. A very good sound – much better than the quite strange arrangement of the songs. Two intermezzos directly one after the other are a sort of mood killer. Pleasing, however, that Nigrum immediately return to good form with 'Eleven Feathered Tempest' afterwards (although it does not fully reach the class of 'Murderer, Dweller'). Anyway, its calm break reveals a great atmosphere of melancholic eeriness, if such a thing exists. Additionally, there is another detail I like: Nigrum always manages to switch from merciless hammering to sprawling melodies and vice versa. They do it in a very organic and impressive way.

The hoarse and hateful voice battles the whole time with the guitars that want to gain control. A clear winner cannot be identified – maybe the listener? Be that as it may, Nigrum’s work does not beat around the bush. Black metal with a few elements of death metal is the name of the game and the band is not willing to make compromises. Instead, the haunting, violent melodies create exactly the controlled chaos the musicians were looking for. This does not mean that each and every song is an aural gift of the Gods. Furthermore, it takes more than just one round to decode the music. Nigrum did not overload their tracks with too many ideas, but their inner strength and their hatred creep slowly creep out of the boxes. And this, my dear friends of evil sounds, makes the album all the more interesting, especially for those of you who like formations like Spain’s Krossfyre and comparable hordes.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10