Out of the 7 full lengths so far released the only man behind this monicker, Sequoror, a brilliant gentleman with profound sensitiveness and interest to occult, decided to give me a copy of the fourth album, since he feels particularly proud of that.
Besides the intro and the outro, between every song there's an intermezzo and this renders the group of tracks very versatile and various, always ranging from Modern metal and Electro; the Metal structures sometimes skim the latest Dimmu Borgir, but there's a steady personality emerging which stands out along with a convincing capacity of arranging by taking deep care of the details and the nuances given by keys and synths. Considering that the whole album was recorded, played and sung by the same person, it must've been quite hard and long to come out with this appreciable result and good sounds (only occasionally a bit dirty). In particular, the digital synth and the keyboards come out smoothly and that's a tad more difficult than what most might imagine, even nowadays when many still fail to fall into the trap of flat digital sounds.
For those who've never approached Nauthisuruz's material, I recommend starting with the punishing, slow and stimulating "Life in Magic", where the guitars, the vocals and the drum machine create a surprisingly involving blend, also thanks to the symphonic keyboards lines. The further song to listen for a start is the long "My Apocalypse", something that is gonna shock you by its ultradeep basses; it's an evocative composition perfectly matching with the Revelation Day lyrics.
The vocals vary from agonizing to raw in a way that's reminescent of Attila's, whereas the drum machine sounds are very close to a real drums ones; all those who are musicians are aware that's not an easy task, therefore this is another plus to this platter evaluation.
A song such as "Ode for Man" shows that this album is not only darkness and in fact it's massively engulfed by keyboards followed by a pale guitar solo.
The artwork is really amazing and cryptic is the front cover, but I guess you'll find the lyrics lovely as well, dealing with dreams, other dimensions, dark forces, and biblical themes, too.
In the end, 2 bonus tracks anticipate the spirit of the following record, veering towards Black and Gothic metal with more demonic vocals and thicker guitar sounds.
"Visions" is not thought for an ample audience and it is right and noble to compose not worrying about the public's reactions, yet it's undoubtable that many Metal listeners will be cut out by this offering, and so will Electro fans. The songs are in between without recurring to blast beats nor easy danceable patterns, but it doesn't mean they are tasteless or boring; they do possess high value, but only the most open-minded and the musically-prepared are able to appreciate all of the songs and all within each song.
One thing be clear to all: the Russian polyinstrumentist, artist and composer delivers his creations with undeniable skill and passion and that should already be a good premise to all music lovers.
MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - 20th October 2011