Black Cilice - "Nocturnal Mysticism" (Iron Bonehead Productions, 2016)

Band: Black Cilice
Title: Nocturnal Mysticism
Genre: Black Metal
Year: 16th December 2016
Time: 15 min
Rating: 69/100












You can read my review (in Italian) about the third album "Mysteries" through the following link:

http://www.heavymetalwebzine.it/2015/05/23/black-cilice-mysteries-2015/

Our journey into the most tumultous Portuguese black metal continues (and ends, for now) with a name very notorious to the fanatics of the genre: Black Cilice. Totally mysterious entity emerged maybe from the Beyond, Black Cilice has released a 7'' EP in vinyl intitled "Nocturnal Mysticism" at the end of 2016, so continuing its unholy alliance with Iron Bonehead Productions after the release in 2015 of its third album "Mysteries" through the aforementioned label.

Released in occasion of the very first live (spectral) appearance of Black Cilice not into its homeland but even in Utrecht (The Netherlands), "Nocturnal Mysticism" contains only 2 songs with the same title while each of them lasts 7 minutes. Before describing them, I advise you that also this time the production is so low-fi to give to Black Cilice its strongly noisy dimension now typical of its sound, though the general result is now (fortunately or unfortunately) a bit less cacophonous and terrific compared with the recent productions of the band. Anyway, the fanatics of the hyper-clean productions are warned!

Said this, the EP will bombard you with a very pure and raw black metal very close to the LLN-style, also if it is now more paranoid and mid-tempo-oriented than, for example, "Mysteries". Meanwhile, the vocals are always composed of frightful and agonizing howlings from very sideral distances. But the two songs are very different between them, showing a band able to reinterpret its own characteristic sound without be fixated with the same solutions.

Specifically, "Nocturnal Mysticism Part I" has a strong melancholic and desperate feeling through a melodic riffing with the prevalence of slow/mid-tempos also if the song explodes totally with blast-beat fury during its last 40 seconds circa. The long intro of this number is very good because it is all dominated by a clean guitar so to create, with the wind on the background, scenarios of nocturnal desolation. And in my opinion, this is the better song of the EP due to its more emotive skills.

Instead, "Nocturnal Mysticism Part II" is surely more balanced between blast-beats and slower tempos while the riffing is more shrilling and dissonant. The result is like a noisy and paranoid tempest towards a mystic trance through the Satanic suffering before a short and atmospheric outro that has the purpose to repeat, in some ways, the intro of the first song, included the wind. Hence, this EP has a real circular structure.

In conclusion, this special EP, is a good starter for the 4th album of Black Cilice, "Banished from Time", which will be released on 10th March 2017 and with which the band has changed something more about its sound and even its aesthetic. Obviously, expect a very fuckin' good review also about this new oath of Black Cilice!

Tracklist:

1 - Nocturnal Mysticism Part I
2 - Nocturnal Mysticism Part II

Line-up:

unknown

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-cilice/180165665369041 
BlogSpot: http://blackcilice.blogspot.com/
Iron Bonehead Productions:  http://www.ironbonehead.de/