Review by Felix on July 15, 2024.

“The Holy Law in Total Ruin” – what a nice and unambiguous title for a black metal debut. Too bad that the artwork is a very strong candidate for the ugliest cover ever. Dear children, a well-intended tip from uncle Felix, please do not replay this scene at home. Nobody wants to patch you up again afterwards.

Although I praise the title of the album, I cannot lose positive words about the title track. It’s a short, non-musical intermezzo of insanity which gives me (and the album) absolutely nothing. “Down the Valley of Damnation” suffers from the same symptoms. It wants to be a horror soundtrack, unfortunately it just sucks. But this is almost the only complain I have when it comes to the debut of Nocturnal Sorcery. The band shows its self-confidence right from the start. Already the opener with the overlong title proves this. At first, it crawls out of the boxes like a lazy reptile, but then the band presses the pedal to the metal, before a sudden break leads to the final passage. The ending consists of a mid-tempo section with a strong Burzum aroma due to its surprisingly occurring, very atmospheric and almost transcendental keyboards line. I don’t think that a band starts this way when it is plagued by doubts about its own ability.

But don’t jump to conclusions, Nocturnal Sorcery do not only have more or less sophisticated songs in their portfolio. “Blackhearted Angel’s Retribution” works as a kind of anti-thesis to the opener. Its cold, strict and hyperfast rumbling shows impressively that the band from Finland is able to reduce its approach on the essentials of the genre. The distorted, throaty and some really horrible screams delivering voice, the restlessly hammering drums and the merciless guitars create pure blackness and confirm the promo: black metal does not need to “progress” to survive, quite the opposite. It doesn’t need to be more than what it already is. The fascination of the subgenre could not be broken during the 30 years since the second wave began and it will last for the next 30 years as well. At the very least!

The droning, nearly surreal outro is definitely too long, although it conveys a morbid feeling. Anyway, the real killers are tracks like “Fatum Nostrum” or the extremely strong, wild and violent “Thy Primordial Flame”. These are songs (just like the already mentioned “Blackhearted Angel’s Retribution”) where everything goes hand in hand – concerning both compositions and mix. It is a typical Finnish sound, Aegrus or Shadow’s Mortuary send greetings. Light years away from sterility, it delivers some natural filth and a profound sense for devastation. It is a pity that the album does not have a better artwork and less soundtrack gimmicks would have been a good idea as well. But the six tracks that celebrate nothing but purest old school black metal in a bloodthirsty way have the power to give me a very good feeling. Maybe we do not find the holy law in total ruin yet, but its process of crumbling has begun and only jesters think that it can be stopped.

Rating: 8 out of 10