Liste der Bands Black Metal Nyseius Militiae

When we think of international hotbeds of black metal music, France probably doesn't come immediately to our minds. But more and more French black metal bands are coming up out of the woodwork. They've got some killer black metal bands like Blut Aus Nord, Aosoth, Merrimack, and Temple Of Baal. 6 years after their demo album, Nyseius have finally released their debut album. It's called Militae, which is translated to mean, "of a soldier", in Latin. This quartet is from Argenteuil, France. Which is a northwestern suburb of Paris. They allege to have a great knowledge of the occult. This album is almost 36 minutes of Scandinavian style black metal meshed with dark symphonic style music.

The first track is a 2 minute intro called Ibi Defecit Orbis, which means, to be wanting, in Latin. It sounds slightly disturbing with an eerie noise from a synthesizer. The title track, Militae, is over 8 minutes long. It sounds similar to Marduk and Dark Fortress with it's tremolo picking. It converts into an epic black metal song with its symphonic music, giving it a resemblance to Dimmu Borgir. The next track is called Les Symboles De La Catharsis, which means the symbols of purification in French. It starts with creepy and ambiant guitar playing, that sounds a lot like Xasthur. But then it breaks out with a Scandinavian style with symphonic music and tremolo picking. There are lots of blast beats and an intricate Scandinavian style black metal solo towards the end of this song.

Luneur D'Une Lune Morte means a dead moon in the French language. This track was released on their 2004 demo. It's grimly melodic with the usual tremolo picking. The bass adds a catchy rhythm. Later in the song, the guitars shift gears, to hit the higher notes which add an ambiant atmosphere to the lower notes played by the bass and symphonic synthesizer music. The song ends with so-so acoustic guitar playing and a cathedral like chorus coming from a pre-programmed synthesizer. Endless March starts off with a bouncy melody and lots of blast beats. The song gets more intense midway through with symphonic music and a faster tempo. Then after 5 minutes, the tempo slows down and gets more dramatic. The guitars play simple yet sharp and emphatic riffs. The bass plays a catchy melody and the song ends with lots of atmospheric notes. The 2 minute outro is called Sibro Ticifet Ibi and is Latin for they see themselves in the same matter. It's just a short piece of droney atmospheric noise from a synthesizer.

The vocals of rhythm guitarist, Daeloth, sometimes sound similar to Morean of Dark Fortress, but usually sound a lot like Varjoherra of Azaghal. Although they have 2 guitarists, there are no spectacular riffs in this album. I wouldn't have known that there are 2 guitarists in this band, if I were to hear this album without reading their scantily detailed profiles. They rely mostly on tremolo picking and a couple of bland acoustic parts. Aasgaard's Bass playing provides a lot of rhythm and it usually stands out more than both of the guitarists. Morguth provides some halfway decent drumming, with plenty of blast beats.

Subjectively, I don't want to buy this album, because I've gone through scores of mediocre black metal albums. I've accumulated too much junk. Objectively, this isn't a bad debut album. But why is this debut album coming out 6 years after their demo album? Obviously they've got day jobs and this is more of a project than a career for them. But still, I've got to give them some credit, because this was a well executed and highly polished production. I've heard albums that sounded far inferior to this album. They are a sum of their influences and it's obvious that they were influenced by Azaghal, Dark Fortress, and Dimmu Borgir.