Review Summary: Grimoire containing the incantations allowing evil spirits to charge into battle vanquishing thine enemies
Nimbifer’s 2024 debut album – Der Böse Geist – showcases a band confidently executing a triumphant melodic strain of black metal that stretches over roughly 35 glorious minutes. The German two-piece from Hanover, Germany, wastes no time delivering on that thesis. Nimbifer knows exactly what they want to achieve with this album, and dish it out in spade(ed tail)s.
While this album is certainly a lo-fi outing, it’s still dense and crunchy and the riffs are easily picked out of the mix. That’s a good thing because the riffs really propel their music forward. The dark spirit being conjured on this record seems to be made up of equal parts Paysage d’Hiver’s wooly lo-fi acrobatics, early Rotting Christ’s knack for catchy, driving melodies and Spectral Wound’s modern honing of Finnish black metal sensibilities. And Nimbifer wastes no time siccing that spirit on their listeners.
Right off the bat the pounding drums, storming guitars and howling vocals of ‘Der Wind’ live up to the song’s title. There’s little filler to be found on this album, with a single ambient breather three tracks in which elevates the following song, ‘Ruinen,’ by letting listeners rest for a moment before sliding back into punchy, melodic black metal carnage.
One of the features that really jumps out on repeated listens is how varied these songs are while still playing around with the same theme. Take for instance the blasty melodic riffs which ricochet into victorious halftime grooves on ‘Schlangenmaul,’ or the beer-spilling gallops on ‘Täuschung.’ Even though they’re cut from the same cloth they’re easy to distinguish and offer memorable slabs of melodic black metal.
Or take the low-end showcase found on ‘Auf endlosen Pfaden und haltlosen Strömen,’ which starts with discordant ambience and feedback underpinned by a fuzz-laden bass and drums before stepping into a grinding, cathartic overdrive. It’s an eight minute epic that buzzes upwards to a crescendo of soaring tremolo lead lines, half-buried synths and agonized screams. The album then rounds out on an instrumental title track full of transcendent atmosphere.
If this doesn't pique your interest then I got nothing else for ya. But for my money, the duo behind Nimbifer created something truly special with Der Böse Geist. I’ll be waiting for their next album to see where they go next.
