That is the key word with Nocturnal: "Ideas".
Sweden's Nocturnal (not to be confused with other bands of the same name) have released their debut album through Gaphals, and clearly this new band drink from the well of darker waters.
First off is 'One Of A Kind', a standard old school seventies Blues Rock, whereas 'Evil Times' uses the template of bands like Blue Cheer and Pentagram to produce its results (Witchfinder General and Mythra also come to mind from the celebrated NWOBHM on the first listen). 'Satan's Shuffle' is primitive but has its charms, and is not unlike early Uriah Heep.
The Hammond organ is put to good use with the more esoteric, lyrical and powerful vocal approach on 'Cursing The Mindless Part 1', though not having any information regarding band members on the CD is bizarre... maybe this is all part of the mysterious approach? Most of the songs on this release seem to have a strong retro vibe, and the elegant musical ideas keep them all interesting.
'Feels Like A Lie' sounds familiar to something I've heard before, but no matter as it is achingly good, whereas 'Demons' has a real Metal bite and is reminiscent of cult band Reverend Bizarre.
With only eight songs on offer, things come to a close rapidly with 'Cursing The Mindless Part 2' - a strange jumble of melodic ideas.
That is the key word with Nocturnal – "ideas". If the band can only craft these into something more identifiable, then there is no telling what they can produce, and how far they can go.
Ray Paul
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