Nox Ultima is a four-member band, relying on a very basic setup; vocals (A.H), guitars (Christmolester), bass (Svetovid) and drums (Witch-Doctor). Some of our members have other projects in addition to Nox Ultima, but we will not be disclosing any information about them, nor about our identities. Both are topics that aren't related to the the most important matter at hand - which is the music. Nox Ultima was formed for a single reason - the need and the desire to play black metal that would honor the genre's traditions and yet perhaps be able to breathe in something fresh. Or not, we do not really give a shit since what matters is that we find our own music stimulating to our ears. Everything else just follows from this. 

Our style is basically a rough mixture of black metal with other elements used for flavor. I (A.H) really like the more chaotic sort of black and death metal (think Portal, Mitochondrion, Psyopus, Impetuous Ritual etc) so we tend to have a little bit of that stuff in our songs. Also solid rhythms and a dark atmosphere a damn important, so the riffs tend to emphasize those. Can't really bang your head if the songs don't have rhythm now can you?  Since we only have a single guitar in our band the role of the bass is also quite emphasized - there are actual bass riffs in there, quite a lot of them actually. The bass also helps to fatten out the sound of the songs - none of us really want our music to sound like a bunch of bees in a tin can. There's been progress in how our sound has been forming as of late. Our first demo (untitled) was perhaps a little bit more progressive or even aimless when compared to the new one (MIR), which definitely has a more structured approach. MIR showcases a lot more elements from death metal with more varied structures in the songs and even a few melancholic and more melodic elements. It's still brutal as fuck though, so no Dimmu Borgirs or Cradle of Filth-level melodic elements here. Perhaps the easiest way to describe our sound on MIR is: Incantation playing covers of Dissection and Darkthrone.

Simply because there are not a lot of bands that sound the same. Lair of the Minotaur might be a little bit close if they'd play black metal, or perhaps Nachtmystium or the new Twilight album (damn that thing is good!) and yet we stand on our own. Our albums will continue having a very dark atmosphere, organic sounds and a very no-nonsense attitude. We do what we want, and what we want is extreme music that does not do compromises. 

We've released two demos thus far - an untitled demo in 2010, and now, summer 2011 we've just released MIR which is a four-song demo. MIR is so brand new that there are no reviews as of yet, though folks have been pretty enthusiastic about the pre-mastered versions we've leaked online. The first demo was basically used just for promotional purposes, but did garner positive feedback and enable a few live performances. Of course there's been a fair share of negative response from the black metal community concerning our ideologies. Then again, we don't give a flying fuck about those people. 

We do play live given half a chance. In Finland black metal isn't really on the surface so chances to play are becoming a little bit too rare for my tastes. Playing our stuff live is really perhaps the most optimal way to perform this music, as the sinister atmosphere and the oppressive sound pressure really get to you - either on or off the stage. In the year-and-half that we've been together we have played live twice, and are planning on playing more. Perhaps autumn will see a gig or two, even abroad.

 

I suppose that the classical black metal labels might be interested in a band such as us, seeing that we are heading toward our own sound instead of stopping by and trying to copycat Darkthrone or Marduk and cultivating an endless and repetitive blastfest that does not make distinguishing one song from the other easy. Any underground zines and promoters should probably check us out if for no other reason than the fact that we'll be doing this for a while, not stopping at anything. This means that we'll be publishing new material at a steady pace, putting up harrowing performances where ever and whenever we play live. Also any underground zines and promoters will perhaps find stalwart allies in us. Keep the underground alive and storming!

 

Like I said, autumn will probably see us heading to the stages if we can nail a few performances at locations that suit our needs, perhaps even heading outside of Finland. Also we're planning on releasing two more records - the studio sessions should start around September-October for both. One will be a very limited cassette with at least two new songs and a very organic and authentic soundscape. The other will be our third cd-release, which should have between 3 and 5 tracks of material more in vein of MIR than the first outing. Some of the tracks are very, very brutal and we're definitely excited about getting both of these recordings out. Killer stuff!

 

You can listen to our stuff by going to www.mikseri.net/noxultima , form our website www.noxultima.fi or visiting our Facebook page (which also updates quite frequently with news and other issues). You can buy our stuff by contacting us via Facebook or by e-mail: ah@noxultima.fi. The postage rates will be determined by country. Tape trading is also possible, get in touch and we'll talk more.

July 2011