NUCTEMERON
Procreator Of Sin
(Sepulchral Music)
40:02min

This CD released by Sepulchral Music serves as a kind of anthology of NUCTEMRON from Singapore. Featured here are all tracks from their demo tapes released in 1988, respectively 1990, plus two promo tracks recorded in 1991. Those tapes quickly gained the band some kind of underground notoriety. As one could deduce from the name, NUCTEMERON had quite an obvious early SODOM influence which can be heard quite clearly on the four dirty thrashing tracks from the first demo. The second demo showcased a more focused, yet at the same time more violent and chaotic approach. Some of the SODOM-esque atmosphere remained but those tracks got NUCTEMERON compared to their contemporaries BLASPHEMY (as one can see in a snippet of an old review printed in the booklet) for example which might not be the most accurate comparison but gives a hint nevertheless… one could describe it as chaotic Black / Thrash Metal with a wild edge and soloing. On these tracks, the vocals are bit deeper and also slightly buried in the mix. The two previously unreleased songs from the promo which almost resulted in record on Peaceville show a more refined and own sound of NUCTEMERON, the chaotic deathly style played tighter, still with some some small German Thrash Metal influences and slightly higher vocals. It is a pity that the band called the quits afterwards – if NUCTEMERON would have managed to come up with a full length it would have put the band on the same position as ABHORER or later IMPIETY. Considering that the material is remixed from tapes one cannot complain about the sound quality – of course the recording cannot compete with a big studio production but the rawness certainly adds atmosphere to the music! This release is for collectors and fiends for bestial sounds anyway, this might appeal to fans of early SADISTIK EXEKUTION, CORPSE MOLESTATION, SLAUGHTER LORD etc. Now to the layout which, in my humble opinion, is of crucial importance for the re-relase of old demo tapes. Here you get the history of the band plus two snippets from fanzines featuring the band back in the day. Lyrics would have been nice but even more important would have been the old covers of the tapes! At least one gets a look at the old logo the band used… which brings me to my final and most important point of criticism, maybe the only important point concerning the artwork: WHY THE FUCK is there an unimaginative run-of-the-mill Christophe Szpajdel logo on the cover?! If this would have been a release of a “new” band I would just shrug and be bored by the uniform and standardized look that seems to be the norm by now but I simply cannot understand how you can stick this stuff on an old band’s release! It would have been MUCH better to draw a cleaned up version of the old logo instead of disgracing the CD and music with a design that is not faithful to the original and looks similar to a ton of others. Label contact: sepulchralmusic@gmail.com

Ulrich Kreienbrink

Ulrich Kreienbrink

Leave a Reply