Nailed To Obscurity – Black Frost

The German Doom Metallers, Nailed To Obscurity (NTO), return with their fourth full length album and their first on the Nuclear Blast label, and I have to say I’m not disappointed. There’s a nice eerie start to this album in the form of the title track. Drums, slowly followed by bass and then some haunting singing from Raimund Ennenga. It isn’t long before the Doom that NTO are renowned for surfaces. It has some perfectly atmospheric moments in this opener, which is almost 8 minutes long. Watch out for the build up before the solo. Perfection.

‘Tears Of The Eyeless’ starts with a bang but soon calms down into a ballad style verse. This then evolves into an angry chorus which delivers form all angles. Technically brilliant so far, and we then reach ‘The Aberrant Host’. This is one of the best songs I have heard in a long time. An amazingly haunting intro sets the pace to what can only be described as a journey. A belter of a track at just over 7 minutes, this has everything. Mood, anger, peace, tranqulilty, build, intensity. The music tell it’s own story. This would be anthemic live.

The question is can ‘Feardom’ follow such a track. I’ll be honest it will be hard, but it gives a great account of itself with a stylish build up from the start which flows into an atmospheric chorus. It’s safe to say this album is a superb attempt from NTO. It’s definitely one to turn the lights off and just lie down and take it all in. Technical, clever and precise, as demonstrated in ‘Resonance’. The initial intro in this reminds me of early Fields Of The Nephilim. An eerie track throughout but totally expected.

We come to an unfortunate close with ‘Road To Perdition’. Another 8 minute anthem and another slow starter which turns to anger. To be fair the album’s formula hasn’t changed throughout, but the songs are good enough to hold their own individually, so there’s no need to change. This is a great album for all fans of Doom / Death Metal. But it also has a soft, more peaceful edge to it. Brilliant.

Track Listing:

1 – Black Frost

2 – Tears Of The Eyeless

3 – The Aberrant Host

4 – Feardom

5 – Cipher

6 – Resonance

7 – Road To Perdition

Line-up:

Raimund Ennenga – Vocals

Volker Dieken – Guitars

Jan-Ole Lamberti – Guitars

Carsten Schorn – Bass

Jann Hillrichs – Drums

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