Band:	Dunkelnacht
Album:	Revelatio
Style:	Ambient black metal
Release date:	January 2014

01. The Fall Of Entropy
02. Emergent Primitive Constellations
03. Ashes From Stellar Oracles
04. Dissolved Fractal Esoterism
05. Through The Reign Of Lunacy
06. Le Serment Des Hypocrites
07. Revelatio
08. Where Livid Lights Emblaze
09. Enthroned In The Light
10. Rebirth Of The Black Procession
11. Post Prophetic Rebellion

Usually the intro gives a little taste on what's coming; not so the case on their latest offering, Revelatio. Looking past that, the album starts off with fast drums and somehow reminds me of early ? Cradle Of Filth, Dark Tranquillity sans the keyboard or In Flames maybe? Can't put my finger on it and to top it off, some passages on the album also have a hint of metal or death core to them.

What started out in 2004 as a one man project, with Heimdall programming all of the sounds, developed into so much more and now Dunkelnacht released their second full length album.

There is tons of stuff going on in each and every song on Revelatio and it's hard to pinpoint in which direction the band was going with this release. You get a real piano, dual guitars, fast as hell drums and a bass sound that is extremely high in the mix. (yeah!) You also get a good mix of symphonic programming thrown your way, which is much appreciated; the clean vocals on the other hand, not so much. I usually don't have issues with clean vocals on an extreme metal album, but Dunkelnacht used them too much on this release and somehow they take away from the ambiance.

Revelatio is a concept album (awesome description here) and maybe this is the reason why Dunkelnacht didn't stick to one style of music. The story had to be told in different variances I guess and therefore the album can't be judged as a whole, but rather as a puzzle with somewhat fitting pieces.

The guitar work is outstanding and draws you in with not only the standard wankering and tremolo picking, but also some very impressive clean solos. The chugging of the bass is ever so audible throughout the entire album, something which is really lacking in most modern releases. The drums are your standard, fast as humanly possible, kicks, but their drummer also knows when to slow it down, which is much appreciated. Overall I dig the vocals on the album, just not the clean ones, as mentioned before.

Extreme metal fans will like it, and so will melodic death metal fans. Pure black metal fans will probably yearn for their earlier stuff. But regardless, with their skilled musicianship, Dunkelnacht proved that they can wear many hats and are here to stay.

For one reason or another, "Ashes From Stellar Oracles" is the stand-out track for me.