Vehemency The final part of Hammer of Hate’s recent A.V.E. trilogy offers the label’s first foreign signing, namely Evangelivm hailing from Russia. Nightside of Eden is a mysterious, ominous and deeply (theistic) Satanic black metal album that kind of struggles due to the lack of any sparkling moments, but is in general an enjoyable listening experience.

Dissonant, distorted guitar picking melodies kick off the album in the very vein of Si Monumentum era Deathspell Omega and evidently this influence can be found from every corner of the album. Then comes in the drums, and... they are programmed. A shame. Luckily they sound pretty decent but almost in every case the precise and soulless knocking reduces the overall atmosphere and this album is no exception - I can only imagine how much more convincing these compositions would sound with a real drummer. During the second track ”The Void”, the mid-range, masculine screams are introduced, very reminiscent of the output of Thurios from Astrofaes, in fact. And when the fastest blast beats of the aforementioned track and i.e. ”Corpus Dei” appear, I can’t help feeling a vibe of Hate Forest emanating from this music as well.

It’s a pleasure to listen to the menacing journey through the six tracks that mostly wander in mid tempos and occasionally bursting into speeds. The heavy guitar sound and the nicely audible bass are a treat to my ears, but compositionally it’s hard to decipher any standout moments: Nightside of Eden is more like a hypnotizing half an hour that incorporates repetitive sinister melodies but not much can be remembered of it afterwards. If something must be named, it is the epic lead melodies on the intro ”Abyssus Abyssum Invocat In Voce Cataractarum Tuarum” that catch my interest the best everytime. Those who still haven’t got enough of the religious black metal phenomenom might find this album more enjoyable than yours truly does. A decent effort, but there are glitches to be fixed for a better rating.