Well, this album totally caught me off guard. By recommendation of a friend, I picked out A New Generation of Vampiric Conspiracies (2021) by Californian black metal band Old Nick. It was the first album I listened to in 2023 and BOY did it blow my mind.
The album starts with the obligatory intro track Blood Moon Rising..., a piano/synth instrumental and I was patiently waiting for the first track to begin, expecting black metal and everything that comes with it: Rawness, bad production, coldness, shrieking, blasting drums and tremolo guitars. I was a bit surprised by the marching band fanfare at the beginning of the song, but soon enough you get all the aforementioned black metal essentials. For the first 42 seconds of the title track at least... And then the track just goes crazy. Suddenly there is this synthy humppa rhythm and happy melody that just makes you start skipping. All the while the black metal rasping continues. Happy and danceable black metal!
Old Nick was formed in 2020 and consists of Abysmal Specter (vocals), Sentencer (guitars) and Practitioner (drums). They have released 4 full-length albums since 2020 as well as 9 EPs. Creativity is sure flowing here! Old Nick's music is classified as raw black metal/dungeon synth and it is the dungeon synth elements that make this album so fun. The band is not shy to use the synthesizer to an extreme.
There is so much going on on this album, it can be overwhelming, but it is so fun. Like being dragged into a weird black metal carnival in the middle of the night. The complete album features 16 tracks and runs for 48 minutes. The individual tracks are kept short and snappy and really each song features a surprise and/or insanely catchy melodies. It is hard to pick favourites, I can really find something in each song. You have xylophone breakdowns, poppy synth melodies that just makes you wanna grab your robe and wizard hat and start on the adventure, dramatic choirs, organs and female vocals, nearly comedic interludes and acoustic mandolins. All that combined with black metal blasting, tremolo picking and absolutely unintelligable screeched vocals. Old Nick is not afraid to push the boundaries of black metal and they are not too serious about their music. The title tracks are already hinting at that (e.g. You Can't Unplug the Haunted Landline!).
This album is already one of my favourites in 2023 and I highly recommend you check it out as well.
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