Nox Perpetua
The Eternal Existential Triad

It is now established: Italy, once the homeland of hyper-symphonic power metal (and of Lacuna Coil), is thankfully evolving towards other decidedly more flavorful metallic shores.

If I open the review this way, it is also thanks to the music of Nox Perpetua, a band from southern Italy, who with this “The Eternal Existential Triad,” demonstrate that through willpower and a good musical knowledge (both technical and not), we too can release albums of great artistic depth (now with this I don't mean to absolutely claim that there are no metal bands in Italy worthy of full attention, see Novembre, Ephel Duath, Ensoph, etc.), offering us in just over 50 minutes a mix of gothic, death, and fusion with great effect.

The album opens with “The Season Before…” in which in the 9 minutes and 28 seconds, the duo from Foggia immediately display truly astonishing technical skills: guitars and bass intertwine between solos and complex rhythmic parts, all supported by a constantly time-changing drum, moving from double bass drumming to much more progressive-like rhythms. The great melodic sense of the piece is in total contrast (make no mistake, a very pleasant contrast) with the guttural growl of good Emilio, who feels truly at ease both as a singer and as a guitarist.

At 8 minutes and 43 seconds, the second track, "Reflexes,” presents itself as the shortest on the album: once again, there is a great display of technique by the two musicians, yet engulfed in a more gothic and dark atmosphere thanks to a massive use of the organ. The bass lines are spectacular, another major protagonist of the piece, which becomes a real melodic instrument rather than a rhythmic one. The breathtaking finale with Emilio's guitar solo will make you melt in a cascade of notes, all placed with great taste and in the right place. The following “Desert’s Messiah” is instead the one closest, melodically, to fusion music, yet never losing sight of the death element that characterizes the band. Splendid instrumental parts rich in feeling and a hint of darkness.

The final duo represented by “Drugalcholic Cerebral Penetrations” and “Nox Perpetua” represents the album's peak: the first track is a long suite of almost 14 minutes of instrumental evolutions and begins with a guitar solo that brings to mind progressive and fusion music; the vocal attack (a mix of growl and scream) doesn't make the song lose the almost dreamy atmosphere of the first part, only to transform around 10 minutes into a track of sorrowful gothic metal. Again, the best part is the finale, where our musicians show us all their love for symphonic music. The beginning of “Nox Perpetua” is instead much more atmospheric, but soon, just over a minute in, it returns to more fitting territories of ours, unfolding an admirable song of extremely progressive death metal, full of complex rhythms and constantly evolving guitar riffs and bass lines.

The band’s influences can surely be found in the omnipresent Cynic, but as more or less explained in the review, it’s the much more symphonic musical approach that makes the difference compared to the myriad of other techno-death groups, who mostly try to create only impossible (sometimes, rarely, almost confusing) rhythms and melodies: in this case, however, this absolutely does not happen, as the technique remains completely at the service of the music.

Other positive notes are represented by the excellent production (crystal-clear and well-recognizable sounds from all instruments) and by the beautiful cover with a gothic flavor by Luis Royo, which adds that further touch of class to an album that I do not hesitate to define as an excellent product to be proud of.