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Over the last several years, and particularly during my stay in Berlin, it has been difficult to avoid hearing about the German Black Metal band known as Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult. With such an over-the-top name, it would be wise to make sure that the band is able to deliver. Their first official release came in early 1999, in the form of an E.P. titled The Pest Called Humanity.
Upon first listen, it is really difficult to understand why this band is so hyped, as the songwriting is rather mundane. The extremely poor production does it no favours. In particular, the hollow drum sound is distracting and irritating. The riffs lack any feeling of darkness and come across as generic and pointless. The vocals are another big problem; as misogynistic as it may sound, female vocals have no place in Metal, especially Black Metal. That goes for clean singing or these pitiful attempts at harsh vocals. No matter how many people try to tell me, "oh, this one is different, she's really good", I can always pick out weak female voices and they never suit this music properly.
The Pest Called Humanity is below-average and nothing more than a mesh of random influences, poorly executed. With such a weak scene, compared to their northern brethren, it is not surprising that Germans would cling onto anything that might seem passable, but Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult simply fails to live up to all of the underground hype. If you want to hear real German Black Metal, seek out Moonblood or Katharsis. Avoid this novelty act.
