Nyctophilia / Hellmoon - Under the Darkest Sign of Ancient Evil

NYCTOPHILIA / HELLMOON - Under the Darkest Sign of Ancient Evil (UNDER THE SIGN OF GARAZEL - Split CD 2020)

Nyctophilia / Hellmoon split titled "Under the Darkest Sign of Ancient Evil" came out through Under the Sign of Garazel Productions. This album was quite a mystery for me, because I’ve never heard any of the two bands participating on the split before. But this is why I like splits, as this is a way, where you could find out about new bands, even if there's always uncertainty if they will be worthy anything at all. 

This time I can say that this is rather mediocre stuff and I am not so much impressed with these two bands. Starting with Polish Nyctophilia - who, as I can see in their Metal Archives profile, shit out a zillion of recordings within five or six years... I am not sure if it is a new contest "who will do more recordings in such a short time", for me it doesn't matter. Most often it ends up like conveyor belt, where you produce the same, forgettable songs. If it’s the case with Nyctophilia, I don’t know. Here on "Under the Darkest Sign of Ancient Evil" Nyctophilia brought four tracks of raw, obscure black metal, which failed to make a bigger impression. This material is not bad, it's just boring and repetitive, as we've all heard that stuff dozen times before and much too often better written and performed. The music is mostly fast, so the monotonous riffing can give you that mesmerizing feel, while harsh, croaky vocals sound loud over the music spitting out the words in rather dull manner. The overall performance and songwriting is decent and typical for the genre, but really Nyctophilia has nothing what would stand out with something great. Listenable, forgettable. 

Hellmoon are from Canada and at first I was quite sceptical, as the noisy production is even more harsh than on the Nyctophilia's side. But then the music seems to be more interesting, I like how Hellmoon dude (whatever his name is) incorporates melodic riffs within this primitive and noisy black metal cacophony... And there are some really nice pieces here and there. Sadly, the vocals sometimes ruin the effect, they're again a bit too loud in the mix, although I do realize they probably wanted to achieve the "Transilvanian Hunger" effect here. But no way it's even tiny bit close to the greatness of this classic record nor it can create the same dark and hateful feel. Anyway, as I mentioned Hellmoon do have its moments, I like "Unto Unholy Spirits, The Raven Call" for instance, despite some annoying vocals parts there. Listenable. 

Verdict: 65/100