Nay, they go even further; "Hellish Overdose" is a straight Venom cop, as the chugging, rockist riffs and lyrics about how the band will "ruin your city / while blazing through" attest. Municipal Waste would be proud. Not all of the EP's four tracks consist of proto-thrash homage, however. "Bones" spreads a modernist blackened death patina over early Morbid Angel grooves with some of the band's most polished (read: controversial) production yet. "Life of Fire" is hands down the weakest track, somber, melodic goth done up with a touch of black metal, but the band rebound strongly with "Pitch Black Cadence", the finest of this bunch and the one most likely to end up on the next official studio album.

If that does turn out to be the case, the kvlt purists will certainly be out in force. "Cadence" is mid-tempo blackened doom of a most accessible sort. Catchy riffs and ringing chords over a bed of alternating blast beats and tribal rolls leaves the most lasting impression here even as it seems a bit of a regression at the same time, coming as it does on the heels of Nachtmystium's most experimental and -- many would argue -- finest material. However, it's probably jumping the gun to assume that -anything- here represents any kind of crystal ball into the band's future merely on the basis of its place in the Nachtmystium chronology.

The fact is, as many people despise EPs for their perceived lack of monetary value ("look at all that CD real estate going to waste!") this kind of thing is -precisely- what extended plays are for: this is not so much a rounding up of material deemed too inferior for album release -- there is no indication that these four tracks are anything but freshly minted material -- as it is a chance for the band to branch out and experiment, without that experimentation necessarily implying a further dip into the avant garde but just trying on new stylistic hats. That said, only diehard fans need apply here.