Album Review: Noctule - Extinguish Thy Flame
When did a video game last genuinely change your life? Not kept you up past midnight, not eaten a bank holiday weekend, but actually pulled you back from somewhere dark? For Serena Cherry , the answer is Elden Ring , and Extinguish Thy Flame is her thank-you letter to it, written in tremolo picking, blast beats and more stacked guitar harmonies than any one person has a right to play. It arrives at a pointed moment, too. Svalbard , played their last show in August, and this is the first thing she has put her name to since. So, if you have been wondering what comes next, settle in and grab a Flask of Crimson Tears, because the answer is loud, proud, and entirely hers. Noctule was born in the first lockdown of 2020, named after the bats Cherry, spotted on her daily walks, and it was never really meant to leave her bedroom. Black metal was her first love long before Svalbard existed; as a teenager she was bashing out demos on a four-track with a Jackson and a budget drum machine, ...
