NAZXUL: Iconoclast

Released: July 2009

The dark masters of Australian black metal rise once more with the long-foretold Iconoclast. In spite of long bouts of inactivity, member changes and the tragic loss of their guitarist on the eve of the album's completion, this is everything that was promised it would be.

For those not familiar with the inner workings of the band, the booklet offers no insight. There's no recording credits, no member details, no liner notes of any kind, only lyrics, some iconography, and a dull photo of six hooded figures. Individual identity has no place in the ideology of Nazxul: the band is an entity unto itself. So it is then that despite half the band being replaced (some members more than once) since the monumental "Black Seed" EP, nothing about their vision has changed. Iconoclast takes up directly where that recording left off, a portentous, epic slab of soul-scarring symphonic black metal.

Over the decade since "Black Seed", this form of music has been gradually diluted through the auspices of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir into realms of near-commercial acceptance, but Iconoclast is true to its name, pandering to no trend but its own. After the dark, ominous strings of "Apoptosis", Nazxul unleashes the hellish fury of "Dargon Dispitous", evoking the kind of cold, barbaric atmosphere of early Emperor. While the tremolo-picking sets-to with a fury, the drumming sets a steady, almost ponderous pace that builds an aestethic of epicness. The vocals are like curses, delivered in croaks and hoarse, icy near-whispers. Melody comes from the keyboards, massive and prominent, yet balanced, neither drowning the savage fury of the guitars nor surrending to them.

"Set in Array" marks the true flowering of Nazxul's symphonic intentions, enhancing its violence with string orchestration. In "Symbol of Night & Winter" the keys pull back a little from the chugging metal riffs until the grand "Oath (Fides Resurrectio)" enters the picture. A solemn and haunting track, "Oath" rolls out in slow majesty as a high point to stand alongside the inimitable "Vow of Vengeance", a masterpiece on a meisterwerk. The album closes with the sinister snarling vocal and surging riffs of "World Oblivion" as The Great Dragon finally arises and engulfs the universe, leaving only the dark atmospheric finale of "Threnody".

Iconoclast is a prodigious and oppressive album of lingering malevolence, the logical consummation of Nazxul's existence to this point.

1. Apoptosis
2. Dragon Dispitous
3. III
4. Black Wings
5. V
6. Iconoclast
7. I
8. Set in Array
9. II
10. Symbol of Night & Winter (Ancient Lords)
11. Oath (Fides Resurrectio)
12. Stain of Harrow
13. World Oblivion
14. Threnody

Rating: 96%

NAZXUL: Black Seed

Produced by Nazxul

Released: 1998

Early yesterday morning, Sydney metal scene veteran Greg Morelli died when his motorbike hit a flooded section of Parramatta Road. He was killed before he could see the release of his band's long-anticipated second full length album, an album I once talked to him about while sitting in a shelter next to a crypt in the middle of Waverley Cemetery. At night. This EP was already a legendary piece of plastic by then and had already been re-released once, only a few months earlier. To this day, "Black Seed" remains one of the most extreme and intense black metal recordings of all.

A chanting choir marks the beginning of this journey of unholy savagery. "Vow of Vengeance" is a truly epic masterpiece built on a relentlessly repetitive, glacially-paced and monstrously crushing riff, enhanced by a surging keyboard-driven melody that provides an icy atmosphere throughout. Morte's vocals are tortured shrieks that are in the fore of the mix, a rare thing for BM from the time, with the choir continuing in the background for the duration of the track, adding a deeper mystical and symphonic element.

The grandly atmospheric tone of the first song is sharply contrasted immediately by "Black Seed Sown", a six-minute wall-of-sound barrage of fiendishly fast guitar riffs and ceaseless blast beats. Yet again, both the keys and the vocals shine through, for Nazxul was a band that understood that black metal could indeed be just as effective with excellent production. Perhaps even more so. On the Emperor-like "Apostasies Legions Arise, XUL!" the band's occult influences are in full flower, with the atmospheric breaks even more powerful here than in the previous track.

"Under the Sign of Life's Living End" is the monolithic, apocalyptic closer to the original version of this EP. This is like a paen to the early black metal movement with insane guitar melodies, eerie keyboards and vocals like the howling Furies. A shorter version of this was included on an independent label sampler, but on "Black Seed" the listener is treated to the full version, concluded by a darkly disturbing instrumental coda that showed Nazxul's bleaker, more ambient side.

This EP was a true representation of how powerful black metal could be, and how it could be done without compromising quality sound. Some versions of this feature live tracks and demo songs too, depending on the pressing, but no matter which one you find, rest assured this is an essential addition to any serious metal collection.

1. Vow of Vengeance
2. Black Seed Sown
3. Apostasies Legions Arise, XUL!
4. Under the Sign of Life's Living End

Rating: 98%