Nächtlich – Triumph Of The Serpent – Profanation [7″ EP]

Artist: Nächtlich
Country: Canada
Label: Signal Rex
Formats: 7″ EP
Year: 2025

What we have here is a new 7” EP by the revered and prolific Nächtlich, one of the best Canadian Black Metal bands from recent years. ‘Triumph Of The Serpent/Profanation’ was released to celebrate the band’s appearance on the Invicata Requiem Mass festival in Portugal earlier this year. This EP that was made available in 200 copies contains a brand new track, the first one, and a Death SS cover on the flipside: fodder for fans, completists and collectors.

‘Triumph Of The Serpent’ is quite a textbook Nächtlich song that fits very well within the band’s recently released material. It is fast and melodic, raw and vicious, all at the same time. While that being part of the Nächtlich formula for quite a while now, in the song I particularly love the way the humming keyboard melody in the background. It gives the music a very authentic late 90’s Black Metal vibe and brings back memories to some of the unsung heroes of those days, but Nächtlich doesn’t just copy the material released some three decades ago. With the high yelling screams and the versatile tempo changes and the profoundly melodic riffing it is still very solidly rooted in the contemporary Black Metal scene. ‘Triumph Of The Serpent’ is another proof as to why Nächtlich is such a beloved band in the current Black Metal underground.

The flipside, however, is quite a lot less interesting. Not in the least because I never understood the widespread appreciation of Death SS, but I would have much preferred another new Nächtlich song. But credits where credits are due, Nächtlich does quite a solid job in covering this song keeping it thoroughly recognizable but making it their own at the same time. That is how you should do covers, in my opinion. But still…