Nox – Opus Unending (Album – Winter-Light)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Croatian artist Jurica Santek has been mainly active with his Aegri Somnia project, releasing different albums on Cryo Chamber. He now unleashes the debut album of his Nox project.
Content: From start on you feel like visiting dark sonic corridors filled with multiple field recordings and disturbing sound atmospheres. The universe of Nox has something haunting and desolate. Echoing sound waves and crispy noises are leading us towards the end…
+ + + : Nox has realized a real tour de force when it comes to record field recordings. They inject a true spirit to the work, which is accentuated by obscure sound waves and echoing sounds. It creates a strong visual effect, which has something pretty paranoiac. You get the impression there’s an invisible presence walking at your back. It’s a hostile atmosphere like appealing to awake the ghosts… Just pay attention to the titles of the tracks and you’ll directly seize what I mean.
– – – : The album features 10 tracks and I regret there’s not that much diversity between the compositions.
Conclusion: “Opus Unending” sounds more tormented than the Aegri Somnia productions. This work sounds like announcing a nearby disaster.
Best songs: “The Funeral Of Purity”, “Iconoclast”, “The Catacomb”.
Rate: (7½).
Label: www.winter-light.nl / www.facebook.com/winter.light.1
About Nox
Nox is the dark ambient project of Croatian musician Jurica Santek, better known for his main outlet Aegri Somnia. As Aegri Somnia, Santek has released material through Cryo Chamber since 2007, starting with “Script” and “Nothingness” (2008) and continuing with later works such as “Monde Obscure” (2015), “Tomb Of Druids” (2017) and “Nusquam” (2020).
“Opus Unending” is the debut album released under the Nox name, issued digitally and on CD via Winter-Light in October 2020. Santek continued the Nox project with a second album, “Abyssal Codex”, also released on Winter-Light in 2022.
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