Nosferatu
The Prophecy

THE REVIEW

The English band Nosferatu represents the darkest and most spiritual soul of 90s gothic rock.

The band draws not too subtle inspiration from the classics of horror literature and film of the past, paying homage in their name, in particular, to the legendary "Nosferatu the Vampire," directed by the German expressionist director Friedrick Murnau and featuring the enigmatic and mysterious Max Schreck as Count Orlock.

"The Prophecy" is an album with gothic and dark sounds, yet at the same time romantic and delightfully elegant. Gothic rock that, as mentioned, is inspired by horror themes of the past, particularly those related to vampirism following the release of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", reproduced both on paper and on film, and which were also explored by other bands of the genre (think, for example, of Bauhaus's tribute to Bela Lugosi).

The atmosphere is intense and filled with malevolent charm, thanks especially to the clean and vibrant progression of Damien De Ville's guitar arpeggios and the typically "horrific" keyboard sounds, all enhanced by the crystalline and steady voice of Niall Murphy, even in the more shouted parts, without ever descending into excessive theatricality and, therefore, gaudiness. The opus, on the contrary, proves to be truly elegant and reflects a remarkable and original artistic sensitivity in a field, that of gothic rock, which, especially in the 90s, produced very little comparable to the classics of the previous decade's genre.

The best moments of the prophecy can be found in the delicately and romantically dark "Farewell My Little Earth", where the struggle between good and evil is musically reproduced by the touching piano melody alternating with the sudden accelerations of the guitar rhythm, in the unsettling "Fever", a typical song to make your heart race, in the moving ballad "The Keepers Call", where a glimmer of light can be seen in the distance in a calm but dark and worrying sea, in the dense and dark rock of "Thrill Killer" and the palpitating and unnerving wait of "Savage Kiss".

I conclude with a warm (well, not exactly that warm) recommendation to all readers: listen to this "The Prophecy" as a background for watching Murnau's film. Your search for strong emotions will be more than satisfied if you can withstand the impact of such a deep sensory disturbance.