Of Antiquity – Nocturnal Grind

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Finding the good things in life sometimes requires taking a blind leap of faith into the unknown. That’s me at age 11, staring at a cardboard box illustrated with a reptilian hand, musing that a game called “X-Com: Terror From The Deep” just had to be good. That’s me at 22, eating a co-worker’s wife’s sautéed asparagus to avoid giving insult. That’s me at 18, staring at the cover of A Fire Upon The Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, buying them both simply because the titles were so cool. I gambled, and I won.

That’s me in the dark on the internet, staring at the cover of Of Antiquity’s debut full-length, buying it because of the band’s name and the album’s cover art. I did have reservations, because the album name made me worry that it would be another yawn-inducing throwback effort, poor in songs but rich in attitude and intent. I know that those are very shallow criteria for purchasing an album, but there is too much music to absorb these days. Bands need to do their utmost to draw attention to themselves by their name, image, or whatever other tools are available. Once they have our attention, they must do their damndest to back it up with quality content.

I’m so very glad that I made the purchase, because Nocturnal Grind is an excellent black/death effort that channels The Chasm. Merely dropping that name is going to send some people into joyful spasms, myself included, but it really is true. The riffs on Nocturnal Grind are composed of the same type of weird, eerie, and otherworldly melodies that The Chasm have been using since time immemorial. Like the Chasm, Of Antiquity are skillful and articulate without being progressive or technical, and they draw on only the best elements of death metal and black metal. The overall impression is that Nocturnal Grind was recorded by black-cloaked cultists as the soundtrack for a sacrifice to some awful alien god.

The Chasm and Cenotaph before them have always recorded albums, not collections of songs, and thus it goes with Nocturnal Grind. It is an experience, an album meant to be listened to from front to back each time. It will take multiple listens to sink in. Bits and pieces of songs will lodge in the listener’s brain, but remembering individual songs is difficult without at least a dozen listens. Even though the songs aren’t immediately memorable, the album leaves an overarching impression, exactly as The Chasm’s better efforts have done. The cultists must conduct their ritual according to ancient lore, each step in its time and place, following the laws for drawing upon extra-dimensional chaos.

My only complaint is that the numerous samples from Legend and other sources are distracting and partially rob the album of its malevolent aura. Nevertheless, the cultists still cluster about their victim, uttering their profanities as Of Anquity roar in the background. When the ritual is concluded, something unspeakable oozes forth from another dimension. I gambled on Of Antiquity, leaping into the unknown, but I risked little and gained much. The cultists are gambling that they can control their deity. They risk all and what they shall gain is shrouded in mystery, the lost knowledge of antiquity. They too have made the blind faith leap into the unknown, and Nocturnal Grind is the record of their folly.

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HEAR NOCTURNAL GRIND

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Of Antiquity – “Respawn The Weak”

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BUY NOCTURNAL GRIND

Sevared Records (CD)

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