Nachtmusik is the third album in just over a year from Order of Nosferat and continues to highlight their fascination with vampirism. Like their previous album, Arrival of the Plague Bearer, Nachtmusik contains a mix of melodic black metal tracks like "Bloodlust Nightmares Raging Wild" and "The Cruel Awakening" and instrumental numbers like "For Those Who Dwell in Sleepless Despair" and "Strains for the Restless Nights." The former are made up of bashing drums and sawing guitars but also a good deal of melody and surprisingly decipherable singing. The melodies are mournful, and I could argue that Order of Nosferat has added a true gothic vibe to their black metal sound. The instrumentals are quiet interludes ranging from haunting piano pieces to music you might hear in a funeral parlor, giving the album these macabre and unsettling breaks between the harsher songs. It is a strangely engaging sound despite some repetition in the songwriting which leaves many tracks sounding quite similar to one another, so while individual songs don’t stand out, the album as a whole has a distinct personality. Fans of melodic black metal should give Nachtmusik a spin to see if the creepy atmospheres strike a chord.
