CoC : N.A.O.S. - Melancholia : Review

N.A.O.S. - _Melancholia_
(Cacophonous Records, 1996)
by: Henry Akeley (2 out of 10)

My advice to the reader this month: Beware of keyboard-based solo projects which claim to have some kind of affinity with the extreme metal scene!! N.A.O.S. is just such a project, the brainchild of none other than the estimable Magus Wampyr Daoloth - an integral member of both Diabolos Rising and the excellent Necromantia. Knowing that much, I expected to find this fairly interesting, but frankly, I hated it. Maybe this is killer stuff by "dark wave" standards, but I just couldn't take it. Three of the eight tracks are boring keyboard pieces of the sort that kick off way too many black metal albums; three more sound like a (one-man) new wave band singing about the occult; one sounds like a couple of goths playing a circus march on their synthesizers. I did find "Ourobouros" somewhat enjoyable, but it's a far cry from metallic: It sounds like a crazy cross between dark wave and R&B. If you're a fan of Mr. Daoloth's other bands, don't expect to hear anything even remotely like them on this release. (... And now, for even more reasons to be suspicious of projects like this, see the review of Shadowcaster below.)

(article published 18/11/1996)