Nocturnis release Drangsal tomorrow, 6 November, through Fetzner Death Records.
Eight songs, all titled in German, opening on Liturgie and closing on the title track. Drangsal is a hard word to carry into English: affliction, tribulation, the state of being pressed on from outside. Putting it last, after Das Licht der naechsten Sonne and Daemmernis, makes the record read as an argument that arrives at its conclusion rather than announcing it.
Tituba came out first, named after the enslaved woman accused first at Salem, and sits second.
Keeping the language is the decision that matters here. German black metal that sings in German is a smaller market than the alternative, and the bands that do it tend to mean the words. Fetzner Death is a small operation, which usually means the band decided this rather than a label marketing department. Eight songs and a digital release is the shape of a record made without anyone asking it to travel.