It’s funny how much album names can shape expectations. Take Nocturnal Elegies. Its name suggests something on the ethereal and atmospheric end of metal. Something a tad like The Gathering or Woods of Ypres. Seeing that Sabhankra were listed as a melodic black metal band with folk influences only reinforced that. You can do some very atmospheric things with folk influences. Even seeing thrash metal listed in the genre soup couldn’t quite stop from me thinking this would be one of those pretty metal albums.
Sometimes it’s good to be wrong.
The rapid fills and blastbeats of opening track “The Shadebringer” quickly informed me of my mistake. Most things happen quickly on Nocturnal Elegies. Sabhankra‘s vision of melodic black metal is a constant onslaught of double bass drums and razor edged riffs that owe a lot to the thrashier side of melodeath. This recipe would bore me in the hands of a lesser band but Sabhankra mostly have the secret sauce that makes it work. They have just enough pauses for breath, just enough sense of variety within the high tempo assault, and just a ton of emotion. Guitarists Süha Kozbey and Savaş Sungur are adept at inserting some fist pumping defiance or a melancholic edge into their work, and that mostly elevates Nocturnal Elegies above the common herd.
Unfortunately I do have to explain that mostly, which is the one big flaw with Nocturnal Elegies. I love Sabhankra‘s approach, but not when every song (bar the interludes) runs close to six minutes or over. That’s a bit too long for songs this in your face. Most of them would be better for being about ninety seconds shorter and it’s telling that the best songs on “Nocturnal Elegies”, such as “The Shadebringer” and “Heal My Shattered Heart”, are those that lean most on the folky keyboards provided by Sungur to add an extra dimension. I wish Sabhankra had used that element a lot more in general as when they do they sound like a really energetic Thyrfing, but particularly if they wanted to keep their songs as long as they are.
This quibble didn’t stop me enjoying Nocturnal Elegies. I enjoyed the hell out of it. This quibble is the difference between thinking it’s amazing and thinking it’s ‘just’ really good. Nocturnal Elegies has been a go to album for providing a burst of raw energy into my day since first hearing it as it is just one big snarling, razored edged, cathartic bag of fun. I would love to see Sabhankra solve that last little songwriting riddle and become huge but I am more than happy with what Nocturnal Elegies is.
