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I can't say I've ever been a massive lover of Dutch black metal, but Walpurgisnacht have certainly helped to change my opinion with this album. Although the band formed in 1996 releasing a couple of demos, this is their debut album released in 2005, and what a killer release it is too.

Walpurgisnacht play a sizzling variety of the truest old school black metal you could imagine, very much in the old Mayhem vein for the most part, but also with some folky parts mixed in to keep things interesting (the fact that the band's main lyrical stance is based around Dutch myths and lore gives rise to the folky influences). The production is perfect for the style of music, being suitably low-fi while still retaining a reassuring professional tone, allowing the flaming tremolo picked guitar riffs to glide above the other instruments (which is important, as the music here is completely guitar oriented, no synths and hardly any bass, with the drums serving only to clatter along in time to keep the pace without being overly technical or showy – again, perfect for its style). There are a few nods to some of the other old masters too, with a huge debt paid to Gorgoroth, hints of a more melody driven Transylvanian Hunger, and even some Pure Holocaust era Immortal here and there, which rather than sounding like a rip off and blatantly stealing riffs left right and centre, comes across more as a complete ode to the early bands in the same way as Nargaroth does (ignoring the 'Fuck off Nowadays Black Metal' release, which for me just went too far in the 'po-faced, no fun, no trends, no mosh' direction into a ridiculous brand of its own -comedy metal).

I'm still finding a great deal of enjoyment from this album, so no doubt a lot of the purist old school loving black metallers out there will too. Well worth looking in to for fans of Nagelfar, Nargaroth and pretty much any of the early to mid period Norwegian and German originators of the genre.