Maybe I am a little out of my mind, but “Embraced by Darkness” cover is largely inspired on Venom “At War with Satan.” Well, a little inspiration from the classics is always welcomed no matter what. But the music in here is certainly not. Not a little bit. Nail by Nail are a modern Black Metal entity and their music reflects this. At least this is the story album welcomer “Born in Total War” tell Black Metal fan. A relentless pounding with mesmerizing guitar riffs that invade the fan’s mind with asking no permission. Black Metal has to be this way I assume. The album delivers the very organized musical chaos most bands deliver today with its pros and cons.
THat was my first impression with album welcomer “Born in Total War,” however, here and there, “Embraced by Darkness” takes a detour from Blackmetalville as in “Cosmic Fire” where the guitars go a little out of the manual with some creative solutions. The two guitar song uses and abuses of different guitar lines that once complete each other or are totally different from each other. Nail by Nail also took some directions to Doommetalville as in “The Frozen Tomb” with a slow, but powerful guitar riff using dissonances that sometimes sounds a little off. The uncanny melody fill in the blanks making it a very, but very interesting track off the manual. The insistent mesmerizing guitar phrasing helps making it a bit uncanny, and, therefore, the most interesting track of the album. The eerie voice provided by vocalist Philipp H. helps a lot as well to construct the frightening atmosphere. Following track, tittle track “Embraced by Darkness” commences with the same wicked intent as the previous track giving the song an ethereal disturbing mood. However, soon the track speeds up and the cadence changes a lot, but, Nail by Nail could still keep the disturbing mood that marks the song. Again the band uses some guitar phrasings that go out of the box, and, therefore, immediately attracts the attention. Grand finale “Dagger Nights” has a Gothic Rock cadence and mooding plus the guitar overtones that make it darker than usual. Again vocalist Philipp H. gives the tone to the song making it sound different from the manual.
I dare to say “Embraced by Darkness” commences by modern Black Metal book, but little by little it acquires some other features that take it away from the usual. The combination of the guitars with uncanny melodic solutions with the vocal that dares as well make the album very interestingto the fan who wants something else. Modern here means to dare and bring some other features to enrich the fan’s musical experience.
Nail by Nail “Embraced by Darkness” will be released on May 09th via War Anthem Records.
Track Listing:
- Born in Total War
- Crooked Nails
- Cosmic Fire
- The Frozen Tomb
- Embraced by Darkness
- Dagger Nights
Wath “Crooked Nails” official music video here:
Source: metaladdicts.com
