NIGHTBRINGER – Ego Dominus Tuus Review + Full Stream

Few moments in the pursuit of audio ecstasy result in one’s jaw dropping open within the first few minutes of an opening song. Nightbringer’s Ego Dominus Tuus sends a chill down my spine, as “Et Nox Illumination Mea in Deliciis” first titillates the eardrums with twin guitar harmonies invoked from the esoteric. Winding, shredded leads tickle the ears of the dark souls famished for dark music. Ritual black metal straying into pastoral fields and melancholic landscapes continue to elude me after all. I seem to lack an appreciation for albums that use elements of black metal in the effective use of parody. Nightbringer, meanwhile, continue to deliver quality black metal only practitioners of the black arts shall appreciate, without the dour appreciation for bands less than lethal.

When the doors to Nightbringer’s Ego Dominus Tuus open, sirens deranged beyond reason wail like banshees tracking the scent of death. After that, the aforementioned track “Et Nox…” comes in and an inspired deluge of winding, twisting melodies sound the alarm as heaven’s gates re-open for fallen angels. What follows is a diadem of revelations made to man about the imminent rise of darkness too black to let reign over a sun burning into extinction, stars swallowed whole by Tiamat. Tremolo riffs sound surreal, like ciphers burning feathery wings. Strings no longer resist, steel against pick. Instead, electricity gives life to notes, chord progressions played in rapid succession, sounding like tapestries of blinding light searing flesh and steel as the synthesis of flesh and spirit sever with a loud, iniquitous cry. At the end of track four, “Things Which Are Naught,” an organ solo closes the track on such a high note that yours truly fell to his knees in awe, the splendor of such a moment bringing due testimony to the unholy, the inspiration that drives Nightbringer to play with such vigor and intensity that careful consideration to one’s music puts them at ease to perform. The album is a journey, an experience, not a parody of something true to form. Even interlude track six, “Call of the Exile,” sounds more authentic than any pseudo-Egyptian piece of music Nile has ever done. They take you to another place-dark, cavernous, dingy. The incense is drifting high like smoke from a fiery volcano close to eruption. Drums, guitar, vocals, bass, organ sound as one, organic, and destructive whole. Album closer, “The Otherness of Being,” sounds like an epic film score.

The production is just right on Ego Dominus Tuus. Emanation, Nightbringer’s last release, sounded so primitive that the whole experience of discerning one riff from another, one fill-in from one blastbeat, became difficult. The aural landscapes Nightbringer conjure on Ego Dominus Tuus are so hellish that meager comparisons with natural calamity come with indignation. Instead, imagine smoke – an all-encompassing darkness devouring your soul – as fitting representation.