Lecherous Nocturne, The Age of Miracles Has Passed
With their second full-length, The Age of Miracles Has Passed, Lecherous Nocturne unleash eight slabs of blackened death metal in just over 28 minutes. The band’s sense of urgency is on high alert as they tear through blasting rhythms, torturous riffing and technical fills at a rapid pace. There are elements of sheer brutality as the band jumps from jugular shredding death metal to surgical precision with technical leads and timing.
The Age of Miracles Has Passed is a stellar effort for only the band’s second release. There’s is a maturity to the band’s song writing and delivery that shows more age than their discography will lead you to believe. What really makes this album, however, is the band’s delivery. It’s full throttle for just about every track, giving the songs an added touch of venom.
Just War Theory
“Just War Theory” gets the album off to an apocalyptic start after a few quiet moments to set the mood. The pace explodes to full on cranium crushing with blasting drums and evil, driving riffs. The vocals are raw with a guttural edge to them, but still fairly understandable to the casual death metal fan. This is one hell of a way to open up an album. The pace is unrelenting and punishing — the band rarely lets up off the gas pedal of the death mobile. There’s some seriously technical riffing going on around the 2:45 mark that leads you to believe these guys have hung out with the Neuraxis crew.
We Are As Dust
Man, this one starts out brutal as fuck with massive, technical riffing, layered vocals and more devastation added to the mix with thundering rhythms. Despite the aggressive, chaotic start, there’s still plenty of atmosphere to this one with subtle melodies.
When Single Shines the Tripled Sun
I freakin’ love the opening to this song. It has instant classic written all over it with memorable guitar work and unrelenting rhythms. The vocal delivery is much slower but no less powerful when it finally comes in just before the one minute mark. Overall the pace is much more measured, but direct in its purpose. The track eventually builds to a frenzy of activity at the end of the song.
Edict of Worms
This one has a bit more raw edge to it as it pummels its way through straight forward death metal blasts and riffing. The onely tempo shift on this one is from fast to hyper fast — gotta love it! The blasting drums at 1:45 are sick as hell when combined with the evil guitar work.
The Age of Miracles Has Passed
The title track starts off slowly with staggered hits from the guitars and drums for the first 45 seconds or so before the band gets into a slow moving groove. This one is desolate and dark as it crawls along. There’s a huge amount of atmosphere to this one that invokes feelings of despair and solitude. It ends dramatically with some reverb.
Requiem for the Insects
“Requiem for the Insects” immediately picks the pace back up in a flurry of blasting drums, growling vocals and driving riffs. This one has a boat load of power behind it as Lecherous Nocturne move from technical sweeps to barbaric bludgeonings smoothly and effortlessly.
Death Hurts Only the Living
Man. This one opens like a cinder block to the side of the head. The manic frenzy that starts this song off slowly subsides long enough for a punishing groove to take hold with a fairly brutal feel. This is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It’s got a little bit of everything: pummeling riffs, brutal drum blasts and a varied vocal attack.
The Preponderance of Fire
The final track starts out just as frantically as the last as blasting drums and rapid fire vocals dominate the initial 30 seconds or so before the group settles into a mid-tempo, punishing rhythm. The track slowly becomes more despondent and slower paced as it progresses to it’s desolate finish. There’s also a great lead at 3:10 that suits the mood of the track well.
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Well, what can I say to recap this review of Lecherous Nocturne‘s The Age of Miracles Has Passed that I haven’t already in the past five or six paragraphs? The band’s second album is just about as good as you can get. It’s not overly innovative, but what it lacks in that area, it more than makes up for elsewhere. Bludgeoning rhythms mix with blackened riffs and a perfectly complimentary vocal delivery resulting in one of the more impressive sophomore releases I’ve heard in quite some time.
Favorite Tracks:
All of them
Additional Notes:
N/A