DARKENED NOCTURN SLAUGHTERCULT are a German Black Metal band established in 1997. “Nocturnal March” was the band’s sophomore effort, initially released in 2004 by the band themselves. Sweden based Nigredo Records have recently brought new life to the album by reissuing it in the form of a limited edition digipak. Nine songs spanning 38 minutes, “Nocturnal March” is a beast of an album, seamlessly blending melody with fury; rife with machine gun drumming, churning tremolo-picked guitars, choked and gasping vocals, and dynamic song structures. If you lay down a foundation of IMMORTAL’s “Pure Holocaust” and “Battles In The North” and introduce trace elements of ’90s era MARDUK, GORGOROTH and ARMAGEDDA, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what “Nocturnal March” is comprised of. ‘Wicher Za Gorami’ opens the record, with a brief introductory build-up, the primary songwriting mechanisms for the entire record are laid out for the listener. Riffs are comprised, most of the time, by tremolo-picked power chords in sinister progressions, alternating between single-note melodies, static tonics with shifting minor chord sensibilities, and other creative tricks that propelled ’90s Black Metal to almost legendary heights. There is nothing genuinely ground-breaking in terms of riff crafting, but what is here on “Nocturnal March” is performed incredibly well and the songs themselves are peppered with compositional flourishes that keep them from going stale. Despite being released in 2004, this could have easily passed for an early-to-mid 1990s record, based on the collective strength of the songs as a whole and their dynamic cores. ‘Spectral Runlets Of Tulwod’ opens with a dreary cyclical guitar attack over mid-tempo double-bass. This could have been repeated for the entire song, and it would have been a great track. However, the band makes creative decisions that really make the songs explode and stand out. In the instance, there is a brief, blindingly fast drum break that feeds into a total change to the song’s attitude and atmosphere. The guitar work speeds up, the drumming goes into a chaotic machine-gun blast, and accented downbeats slam like artillery fire. As the song ends, it feeds directly into ‘Scaffold Salvation’, which is a powerhouse demonstration of frenzied, blasting Black Metal that bands like DARK FUNERAL and MARDUK did so well in their prime. Creative decisions like these make albums memorable. They are risks that sometimes fail, but “Nocturnal March” is simply not one of those cases. Even the album’s interludes, ‘Whispers Of Arcane Cimonar’ and ‘Gathering Upon Saldorian Fields’, are interesting pieces of noise to listen to. The title track closes the album and does so appropriately by descending into a literal war march, complete with boots marching, snare drum pounding and Onielar’s vocals layered overtop. The performance given on “Nocturnal March” is a genuine rager with excellent guitar work, great tonality, and a line-up with great musical chemistry. Onielar remains one of the best female vocalists in all of extreme Metal and an underrated guitar player. Couple her playing with that of second guitarist Velnias and you have wellspring of powerful riffs. The rhythm section, rounded out by drummer Horrn and bassist R.K., keep the songs anchored and forward moving. The production is great, with a warm guitar presence and a lot of attention paid to the drums. The tom drums alone sound like they’re thundering through a vast canyon. While not being “raw” like some Black Metal, it certainly isn’t over polished either. Overall, this is a great album that rightfully held up to the test of time and deserved another reissue. Established fans have another opportunity to experience the early days of the band’s output and new fans have a great jumping off point to get into. For more information on DARKENED NOCTURN SLAUGHTERCULT, see www.facebook.com/d.n.slaughtercultofficial and for extra info on Nigredo Records, check out www.facebook.com/nigredorecords.