Nokturne - Kruelty Kampaign CD+DVD Review

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2006-03-20 : Kobalt
A Black Metal band from California, eh? What's so Black Metal about California that Nokturne thinks they have the right to play such music? It's not very cold, the people are fake and there's not much there for nature that would inspire such bands. But wait... I'm thinking of the wrong kind of Black Metal when it comes to this band, right? This band focuses on hate, not natural beauty! Nokturne hails from Los Angeles, and living there would make a person hate more than just about anything else I can imagine. And it shows, because their fourth full length album "Kruelty Kampaign" spits nothing but pure hatred. This music is a giant audible middle finger pointed straight at the more "beautiful" Black Metal bands out there.

Now, I'm not knocking the "beautiful" more melodic Black Metal bands at all, because I love that style as well. But I will say that for a fast, grim and raw styled Black Metal album, "Kruelty Kampaign" kicked my ass! The Metal is fast, uncompromising and intricate as hell. There are some Thrash elements to be found if you listen hard enough, and some of the guitar parts have this cool little "swing" to them. It's hard to explain, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you hear it. The guitars are extremely distorted, and though this is something I usually don't care for, they are played so well that it actually sounds good. There's also quite a militaristic cadence beat to the excellent drum parts (played by Lord Doom) which adds a bit of a battle feel to the songs. In fact, over half the songs start out with a simple yet cool little drum intro. For those that like such things, "Kruelty Kampaign" has some damn fine realistic war and battle sound samples to help further along the hate!!! Nokturne succeeds where other bands in their genre fail because they know how to play their instruments well. That seems like it would be a fundamental thing, but some bands I've come across literally play so horribly they should have never tried recording an album.

Psykho, the vocalist for Nokturne, is damn good. Damn good! Once again, the band has managed to take something I don't like and meld it into something I find interesting. His vocals are super raw, ugly and raspy beyond comprehension, but I love it! He has a commanding presence on this C.D., and though his style doesn't change very much, I was hanging on to every word that he was belching from the beginning to end of the album. Killjoy and some guy named Boris appear on the last track of the album as guest vocalists. On this track, there is the use of some clean vocals that sound a lot like Glenn Danzig for some reason. This Danzig style does contrast nicely with the rest of the vocals found on the album. The lyrics were not included with the C.D., but they seem to be about war.

The production... Now, the production is where this album shines! Not only can the band play well, but they gave "Kruelty Kampaign" a far above average production, and this is what makes me like it so much. Shitty low-fi productions are worthless ninety nine percent of the time in my opinion, and any band that thinks they can't be respectable and "tr00" with a decent production should listen to the production here to see how it can be done. Good going, guys!

The packaging for the album is a mixed bag. The cover art is nice and shows the band logo and photo of an old building in shadows. The inside of the booklet has a photo of each band member, some morbid photography and some old styled art. On the down side, there's no lyrics within the booklet. Leaving the lyrics out of the booklet was an odd decision seeing as though the rest of the packaging is rather deluxe.

Nokturne is one of the few raw styled Black Metal bands that I can say that I really like. "Kruelty Kampaign" lured me into its hateful and violent world with promises of a good production, good songwriting and great musicianship. Those promises were made good, and I recommend anyone into the darker side of Black Metal to give this album a listen and hear it all for yourself. The first run of these C.D's comes with a free half hour live DVD of the band that they recorded at The Key Club in L.A. in 2004. The audio on the DVD is pretty good, and the video is decent as well and shows the band from a few different angles. The C.D. itself is worthy of a purchase, but the limited edition DVD bonus version is enough to warrant you running out and getting this soon before the version with the free DVD is sold out.
Metalcoven.com
2006-02-14 : The Devil
We can always expect the most evil, sore festering music from Necrophagia frontman's (Killjoy) label, Baphomet Records. Kruelty Kampaign opens with a one minute sound bite of masses marching and then slams us straight to hell from there on. Blast beats, chunky bass, razor-stripped vocals, and guitars that punish with every note. Seasoned veterans Nokturne are on a "Kampaign" to slaughter you, rape god in the ass, destroy the world, and take what is left standing to oblivion......where I believe they are most comfortable.

This blasphemy machine is made up of Psykho, Kaiser Drakon, Necrovomitus, and Lord Doom, who with a little help from some face paint and a gas mask, succeed in freaking the living shit out of you and make you wonder what would happen to the world if these guys actually got their way! Ahhh, I can already smell the rotting bodies, feces, and burning churches.

The musicianship on this release is superb. The tracks never get worn out or fall into any sort of template. Each song is as fresh as that deer that you saw get hit by a semi truck on the highway (and leaves about the same image in your mind!). Nokturne gives us eleven tracks of uninterrupted mayhem, and with titles like "Blood Flag," "Razor Ritual," "Charred Corpse Supremacy," there's no mistaking these guys for a band without a message. It's just a matter of whether you can handle it or not.

Highlights of Kruelty Kampaign are it's inlay booklet. Twelve pages of black and white pictures with shinny silver over-lays and text in the old English style, some depressing photos, and photos of the band (which aim to scare). Another note of interest is special guest vokills by Killjoy and, yes, yours truly. Working with Killjoy and Nokturne on the album's final track, "Tower Of The Black Sun Crusade," was an experience that I'll treasure. I learned some things about myself that day. If the art work, music, packaging, and sheer notoriety of Nokturne alone isn't enough to get your ass out there to buy this, maybe the bonus DVD containing five songs from this album LIVE will get you there. Recorded live at the Key Club in Los Angeles, California on 10/7/2001, this extra goody lets you see Nokturne perform a five song set of songs you just heard on the album! Can you beat that? Hell no! The video isn't the best I've seen. It's shot from balcony levels with very minimal camera movement, but uses multiple angels. The upside is that you don't have to contend with looking through the audience to watch the band in action. They are clearly visible at all times and you can sit back and take in the pain without getting you skull bruised. Nokturne does a great job with the rabid audience and performs top notch. A total package release, good from top to bottom, from Nokturne and Baphomet records.