Luna Ad Noctum – Hypnotic Inferno (2013)

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After a seven year absence, today we have Luna Ad Noctum and their crushing Melodic Black Metal release “Hypnotic Inferno”. Mixing influences from bands like Agathodaimon and Mactätus, their sound is perfect for nostalgic fans of Melodic Black Metal that don’t like a plethora of keyboards and synths on their releases. For nine tracks and over 39 minutes of music, the band does a solid job in bringing back the early 2000’s in terms of aurally pleasing Black Metal.

Opening with the killer “In Hypnosis” we get some of those quintessential riffs of the early 2000’s left and right. The band’s sound is quite direct and powerful, but it does feel a bit dated, maybe around the band’s last release in 2006  “The Perfect Evil in Mortal”, and now they just sound a bit date. Regardless of this, the album’s songs are killer indeed, and deliver waves of crushing riffs surrounded by tight drumming. This is perfectly evident on the following three tracks: “Fear Technique”, “You Are What You Are”, and “Abnormal Pain”.

Labeled as Symphonic Black Metal, we are a bit disappointed since there are only sporadic atmospheric keyboards here and there, nothing like the massive symphonic wall of sound created by bands like Dimmu Borgir and such. The track that makes better us of these atmospheric elements is the creepy “Fleshless”. The band has a nice edge that reminds us of earlier Catamenia and Illnath.

Our favorite track in this release is the devastating “Ether Dome”, a crushing song with superb drumming and just the correct amount of atmospheric elements. The vocals throughout this release are your standard BM shrieks, pretty decent for such a release. The second best song in this album is the killer closer “Total Sleep Disorder” and it’s very trippy and dreamy atmosphere.  

In general, we are quite happy about the whole ‘older’ Melodic Black Metal vibe this band has, but they also get a bit repetitive after a few songs. While their musical skills are excellent, there is just something missing from this release to keep drawing the listener to hit replay as many times as possible. If you liked the times when Melodic Black Metal was the norm and enjoyed bands like Agathodaimon, Mactätus, Catamenia, etc., be sure to pick-up a copy of this solid release.

Band: Luna Ad Noctum Album: Hypnotic Inferno
Label: Massacre Records

Release: February 22nd, 2013

Oficial Site myspace

Genre: Melodic Black Metal

Country: Poland

Rating: 83/100
Year: 

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