Here's Nokturnal Mortum's first demo re-released on CD. The demo was originally on tape so the sound is not as clear as it could be, but good enough. Only the first couple of songs really "suffer" from this, although everything is clear enough that it's not much of a bother.
Nokturnal Mortum are one of those Black Metal bands that use keyboards quite heavily and actually know how to use them - most of the time. Except for an occasional passage, the keyboards don't drown the other instruments but pretty much merge with them resulting in the band's distinct sound. A song or two could do with a little less keyboards however, where they take too much away from the guitars. This release does not contain as much folklorish sounds as their last studio album, NeChrist, concentrating on mostly fast-paced, somewhat brutal Black Metal (the brutal sound is somewhat diminished by the keyboards in my opinion.) There are a couple of slow to mid-paced songs as well, making for a good range of diversity across the whole album.
The last song is a bonus track that obviously wasn't recorded at the same time as the rest of the album. Very powerful and clear sound on this one, and more in the vein of what can be found on NeChrist, and also one of the best songs on the CD. The booklet is minimal, including only a picture, the track listing and contact information - no lyrics. The cover art however is pretty good. If you like Nokturnal Mortum's other releases, you need this. If you've never heard of them, this could be a good starting point, although I think you can't go wrong with any of their releases.
