Hailing from wintriest Canada, NOCTURNAL DEPARTURE were birthed from yellow moonlit darkness between Beltane and Lughnasadh of 2017 into a campaign of rejection and disgust for Christendom and the hypocritical norms of society. NOCTURNAL DEPARTURE redirect the psychomachia of the human condition through ritual and occultism, focusing it outwards as the moon gathers and reflects light from the sun, with raw and illuminating indifference. After releasing their debut album, Cathartic Black Rituals, and follow-up Worm Moon Sessions on cult underground imprints Death Kvlt Productions and Les Fleurs du Mal, founding members Funeror (guitar/vocals), Kryptys (drums), and Illartha (bass) are joined by new guitarist Necrogeist in grim occlusion with HELLS HEADBANGERS. The band's first crime for the label (and third) overall, Clandestine Theurgy, features this bolstered lineup and brings forth the band's most focused statement to date.
Almost literally a band out of time, NOCTURNAL DEPARTURE harken to the grim days of the '90s black metal underground, particularly its most devout sectors just south of the border in the United States. While once the object of mockery from the ignorant despite featuring some of the most original and unorthodox outliers, it's USBM that has the last laugh, as the idiom has developed over the decades and still rings true in the darkest of hearts. Although calling Canadian soil home, NOCTURNAL DEPARTURE encapsulate this mood and era in its most perfect, poignant form on Clandestine Theurgy. Featuring gloriously macabre cover art created by Abomination Hammer, indeed, its title is something of a rallying cry for such hearts - "those who know, know," as the adage goes - and its raw, desperate violence evinces elements of Judas Iscariot, Masochist, Black Funeral, Summon, and Blood Storm but undeniably with a personality all its own. TRADITIONAL black metal, then, no more but definitely no less: Clandestine Theurgy is a throwback masterclass.
