Nocthun self-describes as apocalyptic antifascist metal and it pretty much sets the mood for Rest in Flames, their new album. This 48-minute album starts slowly with a first track starting with spoken text and low-volume instruments before being quickly overflowed by raging guitars and drums, in a mix of death metal guitar riffs, and blast beats.

This album keeps a melody and tone that makes it extremely accessible in the world of black metal, and a nice mix makes it even more smooth to listen to. Nonetheless, this album stays extremely brutal, sometimes even overwhelming but in a good way, like a thunderstorm or a tidal wave coming and cleaning all the surroundings, all your senses, a fresh reboot for your day. The lead guitar that keeps taking us during the whole album does an excellent work of bringing some variety, and a welcomed calm in this tumultuous music.

In terms of politics, some of the tracks set the tone, such as “Volcanic Hellfire“, whose lyrics deal with global warming and the way we are burning fossil fuels and feeding the machine that will destroy us, or “Absolute Oblivion“, which is about the veil of lies and manipulations that is shown to us, the small people of this world, «Beneath the veneer of societal sheen / Absolute oblivion, the dystopian scene». We can also cite “The Flag Rising” which is, as expected, a call to arms, a call to revolution against oppression, a call to fight for our freedom and our justice.

From the beginning to the end, this album sets a very high standard in the leftist metal scene, easier to access than more crusty albums that we’re used to, but still very good and enjoyable for anybody, and the exceptional lyrics bring another layer to this music, reading it gives joy, hope and shows us that poetry and black metal are not opposed one to the other.

NOCTHUM
BC: https://nocthun.bandcamp.com/
YT: @nocthun
IG: @nocthun.metal