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Submit to death
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As you can probably tell from the fact that the name has appeared many times before on these reeking, bloodstained pages, I’ve always got time for a new Nyctophilia album. Polish solo practitioner Grief has been busy honing his craft for five years now and every release he puts out, whilst not making drastic changes to his formula, is always at least a slight step up from the previous. Or perhaps I should say a step downwards, sinking into even deeper, subtler yet more affecting incarnations of darkness than ever before. Semantics aside, he’s now back with its fifth full-length paean to the majesty of night – the simply named Bezdeń.
Continuing the slow creep away from the agonized depression of his early works, Grief has again infused this new conjuration with a subtly different energy. Now as any reviewer worth a shit knows, researching information on an album you have under consideration is mandatory for a proper, completely informed and fair analysis. During my initial reading I was struggling to decipher the translation of the title (Google translate fucking sucks) so I reached out to the man himself, who helpfully informed me that Bezdeń is from an older Polish dialect and can be translated as “infinity” or something that is eternal/never ending, and also in context of its usage here can refer to the grandeur of nature – all of which is exactly the direction Bezdeń pushes further in than ever before. It’s more expansive than he’s ever been; more transcendentally despondent while still being gloriously primal and archetypal in its crepuscular power.
The first hint the listener receives of this is immediately upon commencement of the first and titular ‘Bezdeń’. Windswept ambience opens the track and an immediate sense of desolation and solitude falls over you; you feel alone, yet in the presence of something humbling and immense – the natural world, as depicted on the (great, as usual) cover art for the album. It’s an effect utilized all-too-briefly here as the song starts fairly quickly, but in an inspired turn of events this is not an album of wall to wall guitar-driven tracks. Bezdeń contains only three. The other three (positioned on every even number from the second track) are incredibly immersive ambient pieces that continue the theme of that intro, but in slightly differing forms – for example, the fourth track ‘Pustka’ feels alternately like standing in pure, cold darkness of night with the air completely still as moonlight paints the earth in an otherworldly pale hue; or in a damp, pitch black underground cavern deep below the earth… or even the sensation of drifting in the vastness of space, silent and unmoving as you float through the endless nothing betwixt the stars. They are all different, yet all connected.
I have seen many people bitch about ambient intros or interlude tracks on an album, saying they’re a distraction. Whilst when done poorly they undoubtedly can take away from an album, this is not the case here. This is fucking exceptional and creates a similar immersive world-building effect that say Severoth, Paysage d‘Hiver or perhaps Filosofem does – the ambience becomes an equally important driving force of the record and allows you to fall further and further into the atmosphere, totally invested in the experience and lost to the world the album creates.
But hey, thats not all, the three traditional tracks are fucking great too. The previous Nyctophilia album Ad Mortem Et Tenebrae was excellent (we also spoke to Grief himself about it, check that out here) and contained possibly my favourite composition of his to date in the immense ‘When Stars Shine No More’. Well, every one of ‘Bezdeń’, ‘Vexation And Sorrow’ and ‘Światło Wieczności’ has multiple moments that match the epic scope of that song – as more of my time is spent with them they may even knock it off top spot. Cutting the amount of songs down to three for the album feels like Grief has exercised much tighter quality control; every track on here is the absolute best he can make it, and as a result Bezdeń contains some of his finest ever songwriting.
The hatred, cold and darkness inherent in the classic Nyctophilia sound is still very much there and seething away underneath but the structures feel more expansive and dynamic than ever before, filled with a sense of ancient grandeur. The vocals feel more commanding; the drumming is great and creates a solid backbone for the evolving compositions, twisting with every turn. Each song has recurring variations on a theme, too. An eerily similar riff of austere tremolo appears over ringing chords in each of the tracks, aiding in the overall mesmeric coherence of the album and when coupled with the ambient pieces gives the sensation you’re listening to one giant composition; flowing and changing, roaring and subsiding. I’m not sure it was intended as such during the writing process, but that’s how it appears to the listener and it’s an incredible journey to take.
In short, through still worshipping the night but pushing himself to find all new shades of black, Bezdeń is the best entire album Grief has ever written. His clear masterwork thus far. It’s like parts of all your favourite atmospheric and ambient second wave artists rolled into one, and you really should listen to it – I have been for a solid week and can see myself returning to it many, many times in future. Can’t wait to see where he goes from here. Hail Nyctophilia.
Rating: 4 / 5
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Bezdeń releases September 1st on CD and digital. CD via Wolfspell Records. Pre-orders available now for digital on Bandcamp. Pre-orders available now for 12″ vinyl LP via Death Kvlt Productions, limited to 100 copies and shipping September 20th. But be quick – they’re almost sold out.
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Pre-order Nyctophilia‘s Bezdeń digitally from Bandcamp here, on LP/digital from Death Kvlt Productions here, or purchase on CD from Wolfspell Productions here on September 1st.
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