Behexen - Nightside Emanations (2012)^{Release ID: 5057}

'Nightside Emanations' sets it's stall out early with its key heavy intro piece but then immediately presents a more riffy and familiar sound as 'Wrathful Dragon Hau-Hra' chugs its way through a fiery flight to start the album proper.  The structure of the song is strong enough and the pace has variety to show transition into a more focused passage. The bit that works really well here is when the guitars are arranged to sound like they are fanfares for the vocals.  The ritualistic element comes into its own with the brief passage of chants towards the end of the track.

'Death's Black Light' continues this trend of fast-paced, blast beat BM with a swarming tremolo over the top.  Despite the more pacey tracks on the album it all comes off with a sense of calculated delivery as opposed to a full frontal assault.  Some of this is due in no small part to the songwriting and some of it to the more darker sound the album title suggests.

'Circle Me' is the first real hint of the true ritualistic vibe coming through with its bellowing vocal opening that builds atmosphere well, the riffing solid as the track develops further.  The chanting vocals that accompany the chorus don't really work though, they feel sporadic as opposed to spontaneous, forced as opposed to planned.  I mean I get why they are there but the delivery seems very odd.  As a slower paced riffing machine though the track works well enough. Hoath Torog's performance is as strong as you would expect on this though his vocals fitting the sprawling nature of the song as it draws to a close.  'We Burn With Serpent Fire', again is a more slow paced, solid in structure build of a track.  The pace increases cleverly as the track grows into a maelstrom of dark, ceremonial outpourings, never quire racing away altogether.

The burn continues through 'Luciferian Will' and the almost catchy 'Awaken Tiamat' and by the time we reach 'Temple of Silent Curses' we are reaching the pace and sound of "Rituale Satanum" era Behexen.  The track still evolves into the more modern Behexen sound which gives a nice sense of growth.  The Behemoth-esque opening to the penultimate track caught me a little off guard but then again this is one of Behexen's more accessible releases overall.  Things end on a slightly disjointed sounding number as 'Kiss of the Dark Mother' seems to lurch and stumble along without ever developing any real flow.  I can't help but feel there is something missing from the release, despite my overall enjoyment.  It seems to lack aggression in the main and although the boldness is there it doesn't etch a lot into my brain that i can benchmark to reference the record when I recall post listen the high points.