ALBUM REVIEW: We Only Came For The Violence – Nocturnal Breed

Norwegian blackened thrashers NOCTURNAL BREED are, despite not releasing music at a prolific rate since the turn of the century, still producing some great material close to 25 years into their careers. Their latest, sixth record, We Only Came For The Violence, comes five years after its predecessor, Napalm Nights, and further tightens up the bands already caustic and ferocious sound to make one of their more impressive outings to date.

Iron Winter acts as a very brief introductory piece which builds some anticipation for the rest of the record, with Choke On Blood starting off the album proper on a fantastic note, with chaotic, frenetic guitars, feral shrieks and punishing drums all making for a very intense and speed driven offering that will definitely pull the listener in. After the soaring, demented licks and breakneck speed of Nekrohagel, We Only Came For The Violence‘s title track provides an energetic change in the album’s sound, with a solid, hard rock swagger that makes it stand out from the songs before it, with groove-laden guitars and caustic vocals giving this song plenty of intensity and memorable hooks to work with, making it an early stand out offering.

Frozen To The Cross, with its steadier, more classic black metal sound, with a fair few catchy riffs thrown into the tight, rhythmic assault to keep it thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, with the acidic blast adding an exclamation point to everything. Desecrator closes out the first half of the album with another rock orientated track which is incredibly solid, but, unlike the album’s titular track, doesn’t stick out and grab the listener as successfully. Cannibalized By Fear serves as another short interlude that breaks up the album’s first and second halves, before giving way to Sharks Of The Wehrmacht, which proves to be a far slower, melody driven and dark affair, with dense, aggressive guitars and hellish, demented vocals carrying the song throughout and providing many of the hooks and flourishes that keep this song interesting. It’s a very solid way to start the albums second half.

Limbs Of Gehenna quickens the pace significantly, with the heady mix of black, thrash and hard rock blending together into a chaotic mix of blisteringly fast guitars, machine gun precise drumming and feral, deranged vocal deliveries that all come together to make this brief, yet undeniably brilliant, track stand head and shoulders above the rest. War-Metal Engine is a sprawling but unremarkable track that sadly, in spite of some impressive guitar work, proves to be fairly forgettable, transitioning into Can’t Hold Back The Night, which again is an unnecessarily lengthy affair that unfortunately doesn’t add much to the record.

Bless The Whore picks up the slack immensely, making up for the turgid nature of the last two tracks by being an incredibly electric and powerful assault, with livelier guitars, primal, pounding percussion and some of the best vocal performances on the whole record, making this a short, sharp shock that illustrates how to do blackened thrash correctly. A Million Miles Of Trench has some promising moments, with brooding and epic guitar motifs setting a bleak and expansive tone around which the vocals are able to work their magic, providing a sharp, grating counterpoint to the rest of the music and helping to bring this album to its conclusion on a a great, atmospheric high note.

We Only Came For The Violence is a very solid album with plenty of excellent, vicious musicianship on offer. With the exception of two of the albums lengthier songs, which don’t do much for the record as a whole and outstay their welcome incredibly quickly, the music is great and punchy, tying together black metal, thrash, hard rock and a few suitable heavy metal elements really well, making sure that there’s enough ideas on offer to keep the album interesting. This is a solid example of blackened thrash done right from NOCTURNAL BREED.

Rating: 7/10

We Only Came For The Violence is out now via Folter Records. 

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