Nefastus Dies

Urban Cancer

Candlelight Records 2008

These Canadian newcomers let loose a break-neck torrent of Melodic black metal with some hints of death metal.  Primal Chaos Layers begins with an almost Nordic feel to its riffing but the drumming is sheer velocity that somewhat interrupts the atmosphere of the song.  Hate Vector is a brain melting explosion of technical drumming clashing headfirst against slower more atmospheric passages that are not unlike something you might expect out of the Dissection school of black metal.  Spawns of Illegitimacy has a bouncy death metal rhythm interspersed with dissonant guitars and periods of relentless blast beats.  There are some awesome keyboard breaks later in the song when all the instruments are undulating and the keyboard just stops and then cuts back in causing my head to pause for an instant from its headbanging.  Keyboards are liberally used but more in the style of Emperor than of Dimmu Borgir providing an extra layer to the song structures rather than overly pompous feel to them.  Well produced and clean each instrument lives comfortable within itself.  I am not huge on the vocals as they remind me at times of Dani Filth.  Lyrically Nefastus Dies appears to avoid such trivial topics as Satanism and concentrates on more philosophical and social topics.  Nefastus Dies has created an album of interesting black metal that has a bit of an issue as to whether or not their identity is speed or atmosphere.  Though some might be inclined to feel they meld these two styles together well.  But for the constant blast beats grates on my nerves after awhile.  Overall though Urban Cancer is a fairly impressive debut and I look forward to their future releases.