Nokturnal Mortum
Encyclopedia
Nokturnal Mortum is a Ukrainian
black metal
band from Kharkiv
.
band Suppuration in 1991, then turned to black metal and changed name to Crystalline Darkness but "had to change the name back in 1993/94 to Nocturnal Mortum because there already existed a band with that name in western underground." Then the band "changed the letter so that we wouldn't find a band with the same name again like it was the case with Crystaline Darkness." Nokturnal Mortum gained their first Western recognition with the release of their album Goat Horns
, their second full length album, notable for having two keyboardists play on the album, often on the same song, and for mixing traditional Ukrainian music with black metal. As traditional instrumentation gained in significance and the lyrical concept moved away from black metal’s patterns, the newer releases are classified as pagan metal
.
The band’s first albums were released through The End Records and (as licence pressings) through Nuclear Blast
, but the label and band separated after releasing the album NeChrist
and a re-release of the “Lunar Poetry
” demo because of the band’s ideology: "We had a contract with The End Records but it was broken. We have different points of view. They didn't like our policy, we didn't like the way they do business. They owe us some money. That was enough for a conflict."
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band from Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
.
History
Nokturnal Mortum started as death metalDeath metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band Suppuration in 1991, then turned to black metal and changed name to Crystalline Darkness but "had to change the name back in 1993/94 to Nocturnal Mortum because there already existed a band with that name in western underground." Then the band "changed the letter so that we wouldn't find a band with the same name again like it was the case with Crystaline Darkness." Nokturnal Mortum gained their first Western recognition with the release of their album Goat Horns
Goat Horns
Notes* Lyrics have not been published to any song except for Kolyada....
, their second full length album, notable for having two keyboardists play on the album, often on the same song, and for mixing traditional Ukrainian music with black metal. As traditional instrumentation gained in significance and the lyrical concept moved away from black metal’s patterns, the newer releases are classified as pagan metal
Pagan metal
Pagan metal is an umbrella term for heavy metal music which fuses extreme metal with "the pre-Christian traditions of a specific culture or region through thematic concept, rustic melodies, unusual instruments or archaic languages", usually referring to folk metal or black metal. The Norwegian band...
.
The band’s first albums were released through The End Records and (as licence pressings) through Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...
, but the label and band separated after releasing the album NeChrist
Nechrist
NeChrist is a 2000 album by Ukrainian national socialist black metal band Nokturnal Mortum. The album is themed by paganism, to Anti-Christian and antisemitic lyrics...
and a re-release of the “Lunar Poetry
Lunar Poetry
Lunar Poetry is a 1996 demo by Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum.-Reissue:In 2003, the album was reissued on CD by Oriana with bonus tracks taken from the 1995 rehearsal demo "Black Clouds Over Slavonic Lands".-Track listing:...
” demo because of the band’s ideology: "We had a contract with The End Records but it was broken. We have different points of view. They didn't like our policy, we didn't like the way they do business. They owe us some money. That was enough for a conflict."
LPs
- 1996 - Lunar PoetryLunar PoetryLunar Poetry is a 1996 demo by Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum.-Reissue:In 2003, the album was reissued on CD by Oriana with bonus tracks taken from the 1995 rehearsal demo "Black Clouds Over Slavonic Lands".-Track listing:...
(re-released in 2001) - 1997 - Goat HornsGoat HornsNotes* Lyrics have not been published to any song except for Kolyada....
- 1998 - To the Gates of Blasphemous FireTo the Gates of Blasphemous FireTo the Gates of Blasphemous Fire is the second album by Ukrainian symphonic black metal band Nokturnal Mortum. This album was dedicated to Igor Naumchuk of Lucifugum.- Track listing :Notes...
- 2000 - NechristNechristNeChrist is a 2000 album by Ukrainian national socialist black metal band Nokturnal Mortum. The album is themed by paganism, to Anti-Christian and antisemitic lyrics...
- 2005 - Weltanschauung (aka MirovozzrenieWorld viewA comprehensive world view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point-of-view, including natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and...
featuring Russian and Ukrainian lyrics) - 2009 - Live in Katowice
- 2009 - The Voice of SteelThe Voice of SteelThe Voice of Steel is an album by the Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum, released in December 2009.- Track listing :...
EPs
- 1997 - Return of the Vampire Lord (re-released with Marble Moon on CD in 2003)
- 1997 - Marble Moon (re-released with Return of the Vampire Lord on CD in 2003)
- 2003 - The Taste of Victory
- 2007 - Eastern HammerEastern HammerEastern Hammer is a split album between the black metal bands Graveland, Nokturnal Mortum, Temnozor, and North. It was released in 2007 on Hammerbolt Productions and was limited to 999 copies....
(four-way split with GravelandGravelandGraveland is a Polish black metal band which was formed in 1992 by Rob Darken . The lyrics of Graveland are strongly inspired by nature, paganism and nationalism.-History:...
, NorthNorth (band)North was an Australian boy band established in 2004. Popular primarily in Asia, the group had top ten singles in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and India. Their debut single was a cover of Peter Cetera's "Glory Of Love" which reached #1 in both Indonesia and Thailand...
, and TemnozorTemnozorTemnozor is a pagan metal NSBM band formed in 1996 in Obninsk, Russia. According to the band in statements on its website, it was formed to express the pride its members had of being Slavic. Temnozor started out as a raw black metal band with folk influences, but folk music has increasingly...
featuring a new version of "Kolyada")
Demos
- 1992 - Ecclesiastical Blasphemy (as Suppuration)
- 1993 - Mi Agama Khaz Mifisto (as Crystaline Darkness)
- 1995 - TwilightfallTwilightfallTwilightfall is the first demo by Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum. This release had a more doom metallic sound not to be heard on any other album. It was re-released in 2004 on CD by Oriana Productions with a different cover art....
(re-released on CD in 2003) - 1995 - Black Clouds over Slavonic Lands (re-released as bonus tracks on 2005 CD re-release of Lunar Poetry)
- 1996 - Lunar PoetryLunar PoetryLunar Poetry is a 1996 demo by Ukrainian black metal band Nokturnal Mortum.-Reissue:In 2003, the album was reissued on CD by Oriana with bonus tracks taken from the 1995 rehearsal demo "Black Clouds Over Slavonic Lands".-Track listing:...
(re-released several times in different formats)
Splits
- 1997 - Path of the Wolf / Return of the Vampire Lord (Metalagen Records). Split tape with Lucifugum.
Compilations
- 2004 - Eleven Years Among the Sheep (compilation of old, unreleased, demo, and Suppuration & Crystalline Darkness songs)