La Malignité Des Astres

About two weeks ago the French label Atavism Records sent me the first full length album of Nefastt from France. The band consists of four members and although it was formed in 2003, they have released only one demo and this album. So, “La Malignité Des Astres” contains four compositions and three introductions of about thirty minutes of total duration. Someone by looking at the cover and the artwork understands that maybe he will listen to a rough, cursory album. However this isn’t happening, as to my great surprise Nefastt play very satisfying, harsh Black Metal influenced by the old, Norwegian sound but also with a lot of references to the German scene, combining the dirty sound with the epic elements.

The riffs are fast Scandinavian, with beautiful melodies and full of feelings that they become rhythmic German riffs, while also the many epic influences of the band frequently make their appearance and they give a different feeling and make the compositions more interesting. To all the things I mentioned above, I must add the disharmonic melodies and the slow Doom passages. The structure of the tracks is very good, it doesn’t become tedious in no part of the album and it keeps the interest of the listener undiminished. Regarding the instruments, the guitars are the ones that stand out, as they don’t have any mistake and they deliver the feelings of the compositions perfectly. The bass can be heard clearly and although there are not much parts that it has the leading role, it fills the sound very well. The drums have much variety concerning their style of playing, nice technic and they offer the stability that the tracks need, while regarding their lines, they have a lot of changes in their rhythm and they are quite technical.

Another very positive point of the album is the lyrics. They are harsh, raw Black Metal vocals, very expressive and violent, they fit to the style of the compositions. The production is dirty and somehow bassy, making the sound a bit fuzzy but without making the quality of the album drop. The mix is very good as all the instruments are audible without losing the massive character of the compositions. The lyrics are not contained in the cassette edition and they are written in French and by the titles they have to refer to destruction. Something else I want to mention for the cassette edition is that it also contains the demo of 2008. By listening to the demo you can understand that this band has quality and continuity to the good releases.

The album of Nefastt is a very interesting effort. It seems that this band has talent and for sure if they get a chance they will offer even better works. Overall this release satisfied me completely as both with the demo we have about an hour of mature and well played Black Metal. I really believe that every true Black Metal fan will like this album, so I suggest you to buy it. It worth to give some money in order to support such a band.