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By JEFF MAKI
Nox has emerged from the European death metal circuit with the hellish album Ixaxaar and is reportedly linked to occult underground organizations dealing with the advocation of cosmic chaos. Now if that isn't fucking metal, I don't know what is.
In reality, however, Nox is a fairly typical leather-bound, satanic death metal band, closely resembling Deicide (who also reside on Earache Records). The album title's definition is "a seal or gateway to hell." If this is what the gateway to hell sounds like, the corridors of the underworld would cause the bursting and bleeding of eardrums upon entrance. Gutteral vocals similar to David Vincent of Morbid Angel are backed by pulverizing blast beats, though the band retains a certain memorable quality with catchy material and structure. Backing vocals sound like Deicide's Glen Benton: A high-pitched scream is layered behind the deathly growls for most of the record, sometimes almost black-metal in sound. With songs like “Blind Mad God,” “Insane Hatred for the Supposed Creator” and “Jesus Sect,” this album is not meant for the faint of heart or religious folk. Nox slows things up with chugging riffs at the opening of “Intoxicated With Death,” but slow playing wears out it's welcome rather quickly here—in about 20 seconds, to be exact.
This is for die-hard death metal fans, the ones with indecipherable band logos donning their T-shirts, leather pants and bullet belts. Ixaxaar is an evil, brutally heavy album, perhaps one of the heaviest in some time. But originality can carry a band a long way, a pathway through hell Nox has yet to journey.
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