NIGHT CROWNED Impius Viam

Black Metal hasn’t featured on my menu too often the later years to be honest, but there are of course exceptions and I can still appreciate well produced symphonic black metal once in a while. Although Night Crowned probably is a relatively new name to many out there the members are genre veterans from the Swedish Gothenburg scene coming from acts like Dark Funeral, Nightrage and Cipher System. ‘Impius Viam’ is their first full length album following up their 2018 EP ‘Humanity Will Echo Out’. Some like to label Night Crowned as blackened death metal, but I would rather define it as melodic/symphonic black metal with certain death metal elements. This album won’t revamp the genre in any way, and I’m sure it was never the intention either, but still it sounds very fresh, modern and energetic and I’m sure it will appeal to fans of mid-era Dimmu Borgir, Septicflesh and even Behemoth. The album consist of 12 excellent tracks that are very well arranged and produced. The orchestral elements plays a very dominant role in the bands sound creating this magic and bombastic atmosphere that surrounds the entire album. I also love the variation in the material and the fact that the band aren’t afraid of bringing the tempo down every now and then letting pianos, keys and even some acoustic guitars relieve thundering double bass and blast beat drums and hard riffing guitars for a few seconds. The death metal elements incorporated into the sound of course contributes to even further variation. All in all ‘Impius Viam’ is one of the best symphonic extreme metal albums I’ve heard in quite a while, so I would highly recommend checking it out if you’re into that kind of stuff.

Discography;

Impius Viam (2020)