Paving their path supported in their own effort since 2001, the Spanish blackened death metallers Noctem have released this year the third full-length Exilium, via Prosthetic Records/Art Gates Records.

This band is clearly an enthusiastic one regarding the grandeur of darkness and providing a touch of celestial taste to the songs in Exilium, the operatic choruses appear in tracks like ‘Apsu Dethroned’ or ‘Eidolon’ dancing above the black metal distorted guitar riffs that sometimes are alternated with solos or cleaner moments that exalts their death metal vein.

Noctem aren’t a band deprived of melody regarding the organic instruments – on the contrary however, the first melodic soundscapes are truly felt in the fourth track ‘Namtar’s Crown’ in which, from its beginning to the end, the guitar riffs go up and down harmoniously somehow recalling Dissection. And in a moment of diversity, the guitar picking technique is used in ‘Halo of Repugnance’ something that’s not so usual in this genre, but I admit it was put there in a perspicacious way.

‘The Adamantine Doors’ is without doubt the pinnacle of Exilium in which Noctem’s symphonic side emerges with great splendor through the orchestrations lined by wind instruments with some reminiscences of Dimmu Borgir in their less raw phase. In spite of these characteristics, the double pedals of the drums are brilliantly heard. The using of those symphonic tools is so evident that the record even ends with an elegant orchestral version of the song.

As a final observation I would point the overusing of the shredding technique as a downside, but all the other features are able to overcome that – like the acoustic song ‘Egregor’. Beleth, alongside Exo, is one of the two remaining founding members and his voice is still potent and quite raw in some passages employing to the album his huge experience.

7/10

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DIOGO FERREIRA