I love reviewing black metal bands that appear on Hells Headbangers, because almost every time I can be assured that the band is good, authentic, and not pretentious. Hells has my vote of confidence when it comes to their releases no matter the genre. Nocturnal Departure is no exception. This album has that 1990s hellfire and brimstone feel to it, like some long lost treasure from that era buried by time and dust, but no more! There's just a hint of rawness in the production to make it that much more appealing to me - I love when bands show that they're not, in fact, perfect, and go out of their way to let us know. Digital recording has made it incredibly easy to appear to be perfect, and the human feel of music gets lost in that translation sometimes, but not here! Comparison-wise, I can hear Darkthrone, Satanic Warmaster, Mayhem, Watain, and some Celtic Frost. But as I often say, this band is not a list of influences, but something more than that. They are original and classic-sounding, pitch-black and heavy as fuck. The vocals are interesting, often buried under layers of reverb, and I wonder to myself if they can accomplish that live as well, that would be interesting. Either way, on the record the singer sounds evil and obscure, and that's proper black metal. This album should be of interest to all of you seeking that classic black metal experience, and if you know what I mean, you know what I mean. This band should be on every black metalist's radar.