29/07/2002
NOCTAMBULANT GRIMNESS : "After The Slumbering Gloom  "         http://go.to/grimness
review by Dalia "Gryphon_spirit"
Are you a black and/or a dark soul? If not , read please anyway cause this is another cool occasion through which you could appreciate this world full of shadows. Yes, you are? If you are a dark soul, tell me, have you ever dreamed ?? dreamed of a Black Metal that could be full of melody and not excessively difficult? Have you ever dreamed of diving in a world filled with dark atmosphere but also with a lot of gothic ethereal and cruel beauty? Ah yes! but such a music could be epic and bombastic, showing maybe too long songs, you could object... Eh no! Here your dreams come true, cause Noctambulant Grimness are not too epic, but "spheric" and they don't present long songs. The notes flow fluency and fast, and the songs run away so easy!! I have already reviewed a cool young Swiss Black Metal  band (Enigmatik) and now, like at that time, i remain speachless hearing such a fluent, agreeable, sweet but mighty Black, and this time there is less to understand, only to enjoy from first till last note. You could object .."ahh but this is too commercial without soul or feeling inside!" "Heheheh listen to this CD and then we will speak about again!!" I would answer then. Dear metalheads, one can only be enthusiast to listen to this CD, though it is dated Anno Domini 2000, cause in its genre, it's simply kicking ass: energetic and implacable keyboards, versatile guitars, tremolos and sweet melodies, two guttural vocals (double grunts) that however sound friendly and deep, proposed by Mark and Berry. The time changings are well performed, while killer and catchy passages are countless. The mysterious and mystic magic sounscape is proposed in a such immediate way that you could hear this music also while driving in your car. Some particulars could be better and improved , but the talent is so big that the little mistakes can only hardly be heard, and in general i find the guitars also good tuned.
If this is the beginning, i can only imagine how brilliant and almost perfect could be the next work.
The cool 5 tracks base themselves on the same scheme, but they are not the one the copy of the other, and each of them has its personality. The third track, THE CURSE, is maybe the one that has an evident touch of epic proceeding. MASTER OF DARK SORCERY is, on the contrary, the more tormented and angry, very often almost sacred.

Since the moment i  have received this mini album, i haven't heard  anymore news about this band. When i visited their official site and read the biography i realized that  they had problems with the line up but that now a good balance and good solutions seem to be reached again, so that the members of NG can look at the future with serenity, planning projects and gigs. So,Noctambulant Grimness, just believe in yourself cause your music is really excellent and your first mini CD is also recorded so well, it could really be the production made by a signed act. Keep up the excellent work, your music is a real treasure in your hands!! Don't waste it!!
So,where were we? Ah yes: dear reader, are you a Black and /or Dark soul? 

Dalia "Gryphon_spirit" Di Giacomo

Niederrohrdorf - Switzerland Impressum