Nyctalor - 'EP I: The Collapse' Review

Faceless Australian extreme-metal band NYCTALOR have just released their debut EP ‘EP I: The Collapse’, and it is a brutally beautiful sonic tour de force.

‘EP I: The Collapse’ comprises of two tracks, spanning over twenty minutes of cataclysmic darkness and an underlying building of tension. Drawing on influences like black, death and doom metal, NYCTALOR have crafted a sound that is both suffocating and expressive.

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The first track, ‘The Harrowing’ is unrelentingly dark and crushing right from the very first note. Harrowing notes swirl up and down against a backdrop of doom to create an atmosphere that is equal parts brutal and crushingly gorgeous.

NYCTALOR write that this track “examines renewal through decay” with the idea of decay as “a distinct component of transformation rather than finality”.

This opening track immediately lets listeners know exactly what NYCTALOR came here to do and their intention to create music that “favours atmosphere and crushing weight over traditional musical structure”.

perfectly setting the tone and tension for the remainder of the EP, 'The Harrowing' is intensely evocative.

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The second part of this EP, ‘The Snares’, takes the tension from the first track and amplifies it tenfold. The constant background noise invokes a feeling of walking in a procession, with deep bells ringing behind you. It is unapologetic in its doom and despair.

Thematically, this track takes the ideas from ‘The Harrowing’ and takes them in the opposite direction. NYCTALOR write that ‘The Snares’ explores “what remains once even renewal has disappeared, where memory, matter and meaning collapse into complete absence”.

"Just under the seven minute mark, there is a part where the track is stripped down for a moment, with beautifully cinematic melodies floating to the surface through hollow drums and an unrelenting bassline. This moment really stood out to me, as a reprieve from the chaos that still maintained a truly haunting feel."

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‘EP I: The Collapse’ in its entirety is a fully immersive and atmospheric listening experience. I listened to it with my eyes closed in a completely dark room, which was honestly transcendental.

It is the kind of music that reaches the deepest, darkest crevices of your heart and stays there.

For a debut release, this EP is immaculately crafted and produced, with evidence that NYCTALOR’S sound has been crafted with the utmost intention and attention to technical details. I would love to hear more from these guys, and soon!

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Make sure you listen to ‘EP I: The Collapse’ for yourself here, and for my physical media fans, a small number of CD and vinyl copies will also be released on October 2nd, so keep an eye out for when those drop.

There is also word that NYCTALOR will be playing their debut live show on October 4th of this year, so stay tuned.....