Nocturnal Prayer: Mutilation On the Bed of Winter Album Review!
Music Review:
Enter Mount Pearl, Newfoundland Canada, the last place you’d expect such a nuclear one-man black metal attack. Adam Sharr is that one-man primitive black metal army. Sharr is also vocalist for the amazing sentimental death metal group Grenadier signed to Drakkar Records in France who have also just released an album titled Trumpets Blare in Blazing Glory (see review here).
Mutilation On the Bed of Winter is everything you love about primitive and raw black metal yet only better. It has refined sound, decent production, and those tormented screams from the abyss resonate here like none other. Seven tracks of cold menacing darkness executed in precise systematic fashion.
Self-recorded and mixed yet mastered by Trevor Leonard (Allagash), Nocturnal Prayer has delivered a much-respected debut full length here. Prior there was a split titled The Intercontinental Death Conspiracy where Nocturnal Prayer teamed up with the U.K.’s Abduction. As well you can check out Nocturnal Prayers demos as released on the Advance on Weakened Foes album. All available on Bandcamp here.
Let’s hope we get some merchandise soon as well.
Sharr is a busy man releasing this full length and fronting Grenadier. Nocturnal Prayer shows extreme talent and interest by signing on with Inferna Profundus Records in Poland. It goes to show how big black metal is in Europe and how they have scoped talent all over the world including this rock called Newfoundland. It actually makes perfect sense; those grim frostbitten sensibilities of our harsh Newfoundland winters, untouched forests, and primitive backdrops of nature all play into the known aesthetic of the black metal genre. Our warm hospitality and kindness probably not so much.
Mutilation On the Bed of Winter is a chaotic riff driven journey into the heart of the dark kingdoms of Newfoundland lore, traditions steeped in ritual. Sharr’s torturous screams resonate throughout on top of the savage sonic melancholic orchestrations. Nocturnal Prayer is a powerful one-man black metal project that delivers on all fronts.
Album Info:
Band: Nocturnal Prayer
Album: Mutilation On the Bed of Winter
Members: Adam Sharr (vocals, guitar, bass, drums)
Mastered: Trevor Leonard
Recorded: Adam Sharr, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, Canada
Year: 2022
Country: Canada
Runtime: 39min 47sec
Label: Inferna Profundus Records
Track Listing:
01. Murder
02. Mutilation On the Bed of Winter
03. Moonlit Paths to the Crystalline Throne
04. Forests Stained in Ritual
05. Slow Curse Pt. I (Spiritually Stalked)
06. Slow Curse Pt. II (Rife with Possession)
07. Lustrous As The First Star Of The Night
