ATRIUM NOCTIS – “Home”
July 29th, 2010
ATRIUM NOCTIS – Home
Full – Length, Naturmacht Productions
July 21st, 2010
Symphonic Black Metal
7,5/10
Hailing from the town of Cologne, Germany, Atrium Noctis are a five-piece led by female keyboardist Hydra Gorgonia, who gathered the first nucleus of the band in 2002. Since then, they have already released two full – length albums, and even two DVDs, and Home is their third album, released by Naturmacht Productions. What Atrium Noctis perform can be easily labelled as Symphonic, melodic Black Metal, and this means that keyboards obviously play a major role in their music, being strongly highlighted in the overall sound.
Although the songwriting process for this album began around 2007, and the album itself has just been dished out, Home sounds, in terms of songwriting and approach (and, to some extent, production, which is surely not overpolished at all as one would expect from a contemporary Symphonic metal release) like an album put out back in the period when the band itself was established, and this made me appreciate Home more than I had actually anticipated at first (this might sound like a contradictory statement to some, unless you consider that ten years ago, metal bands that were able to compose worthy songs with at least a decent amount of ideas were not a rarity as much as they are today). There is a tangible reminiscence of late 90’s/early 00’s laid across the aggressive riffs leavened in aristocratic, old-styled synths in a coupling that often recalls early Gernotshagen and the Blacken the Angel era of Agathodaimon, as for example in opener In Memoriam Moriendi, but Atrium Noctis also incorporate some Folkish nuances as well, which come to the fore on such tracks as Night Before, the third song, and above all the title track Home, both featuring some extemporary passages that almost recall the melodies of old Ensiferum, plus some of the instrumental interludes that alternate with the actual songs throughout the tracklist.
The result, which is further on peppered with some slow, Doom-ish sections as in First Day in Hell (a song that also features more aggressive blastbeat-driven sections and several recalls to the sound of old Dimmu Borgir) and occasional Death Metal riffs (Azazel) holds few more surprises, but is surely appreciable, within these boundaries. There are also tracks that have trouble standing out, such as Ikarus and Spuren eines Wolfes, still, quality is generally at least quite good.
If I had to level any real criticism at Atrium Noctis’s third effort, it would simply be the evident lack of anything remotely innovative or groundbreaking, yet this is not necessarily a catastrophic thing when an album it’s composed in a competent and enjoyable way as Home is. Very good!