Kev Rowland
Nox Ultima were formed in Finland in 2009, and this is their debut release. They have clearly set out their stall and what we have here is old fashioned Nordic black metal, even down to the rawness and somewhat unpolished production. Possibly the best thing about the vocals is that they are fairly low down in the mix so don’t take away too much from what is a surprisingly warm and finessed bassline. The production may be sparse but it has been mixed so that there is real space between the instruments, which is good for some elements and not for others. It certainly doesn’t sound as if it was being released in 2013, but rather hails back to the time when this sort of music was being traded in the underground tape scene. But, the genre has moved on a great deal since then even if the band hasn’t, and while I am all for looking backwards there is nothing really memorable about this to make me want to take that journey. There are some good moments, but not enough to really invest the time and energy. www.inverse.fi