In ungainly, wrathful return to their shadowed past Piraeus, Greece-based black metal trio NERGAL speak directly to the raw, unpretentious and unfettered gloria they’d birthed from on this inspired fifth full-length album. Bolstered by new yet well-proven cultists ‘Blessed‘ reaches back to the authentic struggle of the early 90’s and explodes that ideation into six extended pieces, each sporting a hypnotic diabolism which fandom of Hellenic black metal style will instantly appreciate. If you’d not paid mind to their last twenty years of output this work, a high point among many great acts, should provide reason enough to explore their underappreciated legacy.

Nergal formed as a trio circa 1990 and purportedly released a couple of promotional tapes (’90, ’91) before their better noticed ‘In the Name of… Nergal‘ demo circulated in 1992, assumedly having gained some ears in ~nearby Athens by then. That tape would later become their ’93 split with Funeral Urn and sounded along the lines of Varathron and Necromantia per its slower grooves and bass-driven sound via vocalist/bassist The Wintermoon. That original line-up would persist for most all of the demos released before their debut LP, the most notable being the brief ‘The Talisman of Kioutha‘ (1993) for its most complete example of their sound contained within one song though the ‘De Vermiis Mysteris‘ 7″ from that same year is better remembered. In most senses this new album calls back to the maniac darkness of those times.

At that point drummer Sotiris had left (or, was a drum machine?) and the core duo of The Wintermoon and keyboardist Expulsion Angel would approach their debut full-length album (‘The Wizard of Nerath‘, 1995) with Morbid (The Magus, Molon Lave Studios, et al.) providing drum programming and engineering duties and Rotting Christ‘s live guitarist at the time Bill Zobolas (Soulskinner, ex-Vanity) providing guitars. Though it is typically brushed past by folks exploring ancient Hellenic black metal idealism for its louder keyboard tones and at-times unconventional tempo map I think it is fair to see that debut album as an unexpected and unique result from folks who’d only just cobbled together a few decent riffs and plenty of cryptic atmosphere in the four years previous. It is a classic underground deviation and should be celebrated. The band’s original run would end in 1996 and revive in 2006.

The original 90’s legacy of Nergal still reads as an obscure jewel, the type of idiosyncratic release which built the reputation of the greater cult and in some ways extended the core idea of the Athens-adjacent scene into something ornate but still diabolic. By the time the band returned with ‘Absinthos‘ (2006) it was a pretty big deal for fans of Greek black metal and not only that the band returned but that it featured Sakis Tolis on session guitars in a pre-‘Theogonia‘ world. Alas it was just alright, their return was inspired but somewhat average yet their work only became more ambitious in the span of a decade and three full-length albums with ‘Νύκτα γεμάτη θάματα – νύκτα σπαρμένη μάγια‘ (2017) being the peak of their cinematically charged evolution. The big difference between this new album and the three albums that’d preceded should be obvious at a glance as this new material focuses on a more resolutely first-gen Hellenic black metal sound well-aligned with Nergal‘s 90’s mid-paced output.

In revisiting Nergal‘s discography a pattern of ever-changing authorship seems to be the main reason each record was somewhat different than the last beyond the 90’s and ‘Blessed‘ is different for similar reasons: Vocalist Porphyrion (Cult of Eibon, Kawir, et al.) returns this time around, giving a terrifying ear-ripping performance but is now joined by session drummer Agislaos (Triumpher, Infernal Storm) and guitarist/bassist Nyogtha (Cult of Eibon, Hate Manifesto, et al.) who appears to be one of the primary songwriters for this album. Their collective energies combined with Expulsion Angel‘s keyboard work results in an album centered around the riff, a mid-to-fast paced and appropriately rough around the edges ‘old school’ black metal album which is distinctly in line with classic Hellenic black metal muse.

Over the course of six songs, each over ~7 minutes in length, intense immersive value is generated via a sense of morbid archaic grandeur an atmosphere which develops into dirging cemeterial haunt through repetition and reprisal. This level of slow-burnt classicism reads as tangentially authentic to Nergal‘s origins while also expanding that idea to longer-form and less complex threads than you’ll find on their debut. Still, this is not such a far cry from the effect of songs like “The Dream of the Dragon” and “My Soul, Blood, Will Be Dripping” from ‘The Wizard of Nerath‘ in some sense. Opener “Echoes From the Shadow Path” reinforces this observation outright but you could pick any one of these six songs and get a similarly correct feeling from each. From that point the thread is more-or-less unstoppable in its path, rarely straying from those core tenets expressed. In this way one can see the impact of folks from Cult of Eibon and Caedes Cruenta turning back the clock to the real cult without sapping the esoteric character of the band.

The title track, “Blessed”, is a major standout per my own taste as the clattering rush-in, mid-song break and rousing pull out of it represent a belligerently familiar stroke of the old ways which leaves plenty of open air for Porphyrion‘s aforementioned vocals to howl up the chasm created. There is an impassioned volatility to these acts which surprisingly doesn’t make a huge feature of the keyboards as one’d expect, instead placing them for transitional effect on most pieces. As we move toward the second half of the album “Dictionnaire Infernal” ends up being the biggest feature of keyboards beyond the intro to the opener and thusly should yield the most familiarity for fans of their first album. Right after another standout “Sacraments of Elder Sophia” acts as a sort of more melodic counterpart with guitar work fans of early Rotting Christ should appreciate as well. Overall Side B, or, the second half only generated more enthusiasm on my part as it’d progressed whereas the first half was more about the riff and the arc it’d drawn.

As a fan primarily concerned with Nergal‘s 90’s output ‘Blessed‘ is more clearly set along the lines of what I’d want though I figure if you’d followed the band throughout the 2000’s and 2010’s this album doesn’t uphold that progression so squarely. Though its album art is fairly average the rusted-over, eerie sound design applied is beyond suitable and one of my favorite aspects of the band’s latest return. I’d found the full listen haunting, immersive in its focus on longer-form pieces and admirably balanced between coldly struck aggression and swamp-stalking majesty. A high recommendation.

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