We are now and not for the first time dipping into that strange affliction known as sleep paralysis. It’s terrifying to anyone who has ever experienced it and not surprising that in less enlightened times the blame was cast on mythological factors. It is these that Belgian project Nachtmaer delve into via theme and nightmarish, atmospheric black metal. Nachtmaer look at themselves as neither an individual project or a full band. They are helmed by instrumentalist Snoodaert who is involved in the Belgium scene via bands such as Kludde and over the four tracks here he has assembled different vocalists on each. They are it must be said quite similar in stance and all rasp and express themselves with authority leaving the music and their delivery to flow and making things consistent as a whole without detracting by wildly different vocal techniques.
As for the maere itself, a phantasmagorical entity that straddles the chest of the sleeper and constricts breathing, we are in for a chilly ride. Encountering it on first track ‘Marevlechten,’ the braids are sewn via shivering and feverish riffs gradually taking form before a hellish scream is unleashed by Cerulean, singer from the aforementioned Kludde and Toorn. It has an epic feel and settles down into a slower paced mood with the vocals snarling away in the background. Our dreamer does not seem to be in the best of places and is tossing and turning in torment. However, it is not just humans afflicted by this evil entity and this is we are told an attack on the stables, no doubt where myths spread from via Slavic and Germanic origins. It is the horses who are the victims here left shattered and dishevelled by morning “manes tangled and their tails tied together.” An uplift in pace to a brackish pogo occurs at first on ‘Mijn vlucht door de nacht’ and here we are joined by Acharantis of Soul Dissolution and L’Hiver en Deuil. Now it is a human transformed to equine state and forced to take the Maere on a nightmarish night-time ride. A bit more gravid and indeed beastly vocally the track starts at a fast canter before slowing down as our nag is no doubt ridden to the ground and left to stumble through ordeal awaiting dawn to release its torment.
‘I Am The Nightmare’ reverts to English and is handled by Ronarg from the more familiar (to me) Antzaat and Ars Veneficium. Firstly, though the music trembles on the grip of a dreamscape with the hellish elongated and blood-curdling screams gradually encroaching on things. This relates thematically to the victim slowly being gripped by delirium and madness at the hands of its parasitical host. It is told in a venomous fashion and is suitably black as the darkest night. In context everything aligns and this is very much a nightmare made flesh, cloaking and stifling the listener in its miasma of madness. ‘De drievoudschart’ culminates this ghastly night with 1st Kludde vocalist and current Dissolve Patterns member Bram providing vocals. It is a 13-minute monster of atmosphere with a great gloomy slow melody punctuated with stabbing vocal snarls. Apparently, the vocalist tells it from the heart being a sufferer of sleep paralysis and night terrors in the past. It comes across here as does some eerie spoken word parts before the album finally unravels in some frosty star-gazing synth work (somewhat reminiscent of the music from Hellraiser) bringing us once more into the cold light of day. Was it all just a dream?
Obviously, a lot to take in here above and beyond the music itself. What comes across is the sheer depth put into it all from the studious research into the subject matter to the excellent cover art by Wesley Dewanckel, which perfectly presents the imagery to go with it all. The disc arrived just before the festering season and took a lot of plays and research to get to grips with. The last thing I wanted to do was fall asleep listening to it and if anyone has done so the results would no doubt be very interesting. Hopefully Nachtmaer will invade dreams again in the future and this will not be a one-off.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply