Invictus — Nocturnal Visions

Japanese death metal band Invictus debuted in 2020 with an album called The Catacombs of Fear. This is their second album, several years later, titled Nocturnal Visions.

It's very much a piece of historically accurate old school death metal, perhaps sounding closest to Immolation during their mid 90's heydey, with nods to classics such as Gorguts' "The Erosion of Sanity", Suffocation's "Pierced from Within", and others, taking influence from the most cerebral of the original stalwarts. Creating this atmosphere is as much about what is not included as what is; there is melody present here, but executed in a subtle fashion, and this is no 'melodic death metal' recording. Veins of magma red tonality can be found hidden amongst the dissonant tremolos and the occasional shredding solo.

True to the style of the genre, it's a short full-length at thirty-five minutes, superficially monotonous but very replayable, and full of density and clever riffs to unpack. Truly sounding like a lost album from the 90's, Nocturnal Visions successfully captures the grim hellworld energy of groups like Immolation. I relate to their desire to recapture this era of death metal, and it's something I don't really tire of, if it's done well. This one is recommended.