Nigrum Ignis Circuli is Latin for “Black Fire Circle”. It also happens to be the name of a raw black metal band from Bosnia and Herzegovina. They're part of the “Black Plague Circle”, a black metal association similar to the LLN and the Black Twilight Circle which consists of fellow Bosnian bands Deathcircle, Niteris, and Cave Ritual. I really liked Deathcircle's dark and occult brand of black metal, so I might just like these guys.
The style of black metal played by Nigrum Ignis Circuli harkens back to the genres early days. The music is mid-paced, the production is muddy and lo-fi, and the instrumentation is rather minimalistic. The drums utilize a lot of cymbal work which creates this impenetrable fog that reinforces the occult atmosphere. The bass is quite prominent in the mix, rather rare for lo-fi black metal. They help give the music an extra layer of thickness. The guitars mainly play simple rhythms that wouldn't be out of place in an early 90s black metal band. They're not all that original, but they're still good. The vocals consist of a cloudy rasp that just screams Darkthrone. Again, they're not that original, but they're still well-performed.
Let me also mention that the first and last songs consist of keyboard pieces. I particularly like the last one. The dark, lo-fi keyboards remind me of the dark ambient works of the LLN. Overall, this demo was a great display of lo-fi black metal. They may not have done anything new, but they take the formula already written down and play it well.
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