Rating: 7.9

Country: Austria

Genre: Black Metal

Record Label: Ashen Productions

Release Date: 2009

Track list:
1. Apparitonal Echoes from the Void
2. Wounds of Worship
3. The Crimson Sacrament
4. Soul Murder Ceremony
5. The Omega Illumination
6. Thanatheism
7. Blood Will Tell
8. Upon the Shores of Solitude Pt.III

Total playing time 44 mins

Band Website: Stormnatt

Stormnatt - The Crimson Sacrament

Mord - Vocals
Antimessiah - Guitar
Notodden - Bass
P - Drums

Austrian band Stormnatt play in the vein of the largely Dissection influenced black/death bands from the mid '90s. The Crimson Sacrament is most reminiscent of debut albums of Sacramentum, Dawn and Mork Gyning to name a few. Like you I too happen to enjoy music of this kind, which is usually brisk and full of emotive melodies that instantly give birth to strange tingling sensations in your heart; which is hugely inspiring and makes your chest heave, and which relies entirely on the power of the riffs and not fake sounding keyboards.

But apart from the fact that most of the Swedish bands were overly influenced by Dissection, they also tended to sound frivolous. Their music may indeed be exquisite but it lacked in emotional maturity because of which I couldn't take them very seriously or found myself remaining unmoved by much of it. I yearned for something less playful sounding, something that would have more depth. Stormnatt have attempted to address that issue by drawing elements from the relatively grimmer Norwegian scene and mixing heart-rending tunes with the skimming Swedish melodies. They don't incorporate them to a large extent but that is good enough.

So, flowing along with Stormnatt's streamlined songs you might find youself suddenly being stranded on a rock or something with your butt or rather your emotions hurting. This way of inflicting pain is so much better than black metal bands just repeating a depressive riff ad nauseam and never really being able to snap out of it. In Stormnatt's case it is almost like them remaining cheerful throughout, not allowing the inevitable moments of downfall in life to bog them down, and slowly but surely making progress towards resuming their original joyous nature. The tempo changes are masterful and they have this ability of changing the entire mood of the song right in the middle of it when you least expect it. Quality of riffs remains high nearly throughout the album. You don't want the good songs to end and wish they would go on flowing while offering you moments of pain and poignancy in between, as if each of them had an important lesson of life to teach.

I am relieved to find that Mord's vocals don't sound too much like the icy rasps of Dissection or the high-pitched screeches of Naglfar. They don't get in the way of the music and save for the last song where he howls for a bit they remain consistent with the music and go well with it. The production is fair and doesn't offend anyone. It is crisp, well balanced and sufficient rawness is thankfully retained.

The Crimson Sacrament is a classy effort that could have been even better with fewer moments of overfamiliarity. It is great to see black metal bands playing such riff-based melodic music. I really thought that was a lost art. You new metalheads are fortunate to have Stormnatt around. Now you don't have to sit and scan the past catalogue of '90s labels for similar sounding bands and come across something called The Moaning.

October 14, 2009