Metal, for all it’s posturing and attitude, is above all a celebration of tropes. A love affair with sawed off sine waves, blurred fretwork, and a handful of drum patterns. Enduring for over half a century based solely on the pure and unabashed love of it’s fans, it’s chiefly concerned with repeating images and minute mutations. It fukks or it succs.
That love is likely what drove Practitioner, Sentencer, and Abysmal Specter to start Old Nick. That is, the age old question that every band faces at inception; How can we do it a little different? Jam in Dungeon Synth and Chiptunes? Take the piss out of every tape-born Instagram vampire Black Metal band? Bury themselves deeply in motifs thought uncool since Midian? Fuck it. Do it all, and do a lot of it. Do it right now and do it again tomorrow.
A New Generation Of Vampiric Conspiracies represents the band’s third full length and twelfth release since April 2020. While I’ve enjoyed some pandemic success from recording at home and having low standards, Old Nick has managed to turn the past year into a full career. Rounding the edges off of some of the comedy and developing a sense of both song and album writing, things seem to finally be gelling. (The glacial 3-month production process seems to have been put to good use.) Delicate moments abound, but a crescendo comes with “Turpitudinous Decree From The Haunted Phone“, as an angelic voice crows over a deathrock inspired bassline.
Are these the same guys who can’t seem to press more than 50 CDs at a time? The ‘there’s a ghost in my chamberpot’ guys? ‘The Saint of Blood’ says yes.
In the end it’s a huge leap forward in a lot of ways – beyond simply slapping synths on a tinny guitar track, beyond the cringe comedy of yet another vvampyric release. Tasteful, well crafted, and above all respectful of Metal while poking a lot of assholes in the eye. I’m keen to see what they can do when the inevitable ‘serious’ side project comes, with strong production standards, using some friend’s AxeFX, and after conning some drummer to come along for the ride. Old Nick might be a joke for a small subset of Metalheads who see the Raw Black Metal scene as little more than a new iteration of Deathcore or Djent, but it was sorely needed.
Listen here:
https://grimestone.bandcamp.com/album/old-nick-a-new-generation-of-vampiric-conspiracies
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