The album is a lengthy one and squeaks just over the 69 minute mark which makes this one a bit long to take in but in many ways the steady stream of depressive caustic guitars, blastbeats and atmospheric gloom and doom offer a hypnotic respite into a cathartic purging of demons from the soul. NOCTURNAL POISONING emerged after a series of demos and splits and showcases a lengthy sprawling run of hideously grotesque black metal assaults that implement rhythmic marches that meander on with atmospheric mood setting keyboards that linger in the lugubrious zone. Following in the footsteps of other depressive black metal bands like Bethlehem, Deinonychus and I Shalt Become, XASTHUR carried the torch of nurturing depressive themes, nihilism, hatred and self-mutilation while keeping an atmospheric otherworldly storm of gloom and doom humming along behind the distorted tremolo picking and raspy vocal angst.

And that pretty much is what this debut album NOCTURNAL POISONING is all about!īy the turn of the millennium the second wave of black metal had fully splintered into myriad directions with some bands taking a more symphonic approach while others going the direction of taking things even further into the darkness where lo-fi rawness was retained and subdued rage was turned inward into self-hatred and depression.

The moniker came from a combination of “Hastur” and “Xenaoth” which ultimately came form a Necrononicon book and refers to a demoness who kills people in their sleep. Starting out as a band in the not so black metal city of Alhambra in the Los Angeles region of sunny California, XASTHUR began as a band project in 1996 but due to clashes in personality and musical differences would soon become the solo project of Scott “Malefic” Conner who proved that you don’t have to emerge from the frigid northern regions of the planet to create some of the darkest and chilling sounds in musical form.

Xasthur bandcamp