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Nycticorax hail from Latvia and play some raw Black Metal that I have to admit I can't really compare to any of the other stuff I have heard - I guess that's a good thing! They may have a slight Carpathian Forest influence but even then that sound isn't predominant here. No keyboards, no female vocals, just some raw Black Metal that also at times flirts with thrashy influences as well as doom metal. The release is rather long and it's both good and bad: Sometimes I found myself getting a bit bored by one of those relatively fast, simplistic (as in "repetitive", mostly) BM songs, and then out of nowhere they break the pace into some heavy, doom-ish sound that takes me by surprise every time. They do that quite a bit throughout the album and that's what saves it from feeling way too long for the genre.

The lyrics are in Russian so as far as lyrical content goes, I have no idea. I assume they're not singing about love. :) The vocals are the mandatory BM-style screeches, a bit on the deep side. Good release, and I believe they have a second album ready as well, hopefully it'll be at least as good as this one.