As was hopefully obvious, the atmosphere is a medieval, “Lord of the Rings” sort of atmosphere, and it really nails it. I mentioned atmosphere earlier, and there certainly is no lack of atmosphere. Furthermore, the synth also uses resemblances of other instruments, such as violin and harpsichord and organ, which adds a surprisingly interesting element. I really appreciate their attention to detail, as it is obvious that after each melody was written, they tried out every imaginable backing melody, and found many a great melody that really accentuates the primary melodies. It’s these backing melodies, however, that really makes the music even though you barely notice them at first, you really would notice if they were missing. The synth writing often consists of a more frontal melody, that often is fairly complex, whilst there are one or two simpler melodies that serve as backing to the main melody. As I mentioned earlier, they really do resemble classical music, which adds such great contrast to the heavy guitars and blast beats, which creates an excellent atmosphere. As it is with so many black metal albums, what really makes this stand out isn’t the guitars, but rather the synth, and the sheer complexity of it. Now, with that out of the way, let’s dive into what makes this album so great. I would like to say that high pitched tortured vocals necessarily have to be bad, as I think that the early vocals of Kristian Vikernes would have been perfect for this album, but these vocals simply aren’t that great. Most importantly, they don’t really have the punch, the aggression, the passion black metal vocals need instead, they come across as a band that couldn’t find a vocalist, so one member said “screw it, how hard can it be?”. They sound quite whistle-ly, a bit too high pitched, and sound more like a pig being tortured than fear inducing ringwraiths. So I’d guess that the vocalist meant to imitate the infamous Nazgûls (and if you don’t know what a “nazgûl” is, then I’m really sorry), but they fall somewhat short of the task. They’re not too great a hindrance, though, as I did overcome their mediocrity quite fast. It’s somewhat of a shame to see an album be so close to perfection, only to be hindered by mediocre vocals. They’re by far the weakest part of the album. One thing that is so incredibly great about Nazgûl’s “De Expugnatione Elfmuth”, is that for every time I listen to it, I find something new there are so many layers of melodies that together craft such elegant and beautiful music, whilst still maintaining the required heaviness of black metal.įirst off, I’d like to get one thing out of the way: the vocals, or more specifically, the shrieks. I’m quite convinced that if the material on this album was played entirely by an orchestra, it could easily be passed off as first rate classical music.
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