Sicarius – Nex
Release Date: 10th April 2026
Label: Adirondack Black Mass
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal
FFO: Urgehal, Mayhem, Marduk.
Review By: Aeons Burning
Sicarius made waves with their first couple records for being produced by Mick Kenney (Anaal Nathrakh, and the founder of drift phonk with Kordhell as much as my friend hates to admit it), which resulted in both Serenade of Slitting Throats and God of Broken Roots being very good and solid black metal releases that I thought showcased a band with plenty of upward potential once they ironed out the kinks and locked in. Unfortunately, Sicarius would end up splitting after God of Broken Roots to focus on other projects, both musical and nonmusical, and they simply vanished into the ether afterwards. Until this year when they had not only reformed, but also signed with Adirondack Black Mass to release Nex, a “crime-drama of a black metal record”, and ready to show everyone that they’re not dead. As for how Nex is, it’s a genuinely solid record, but it doesn’t really do much to convince me that it’s worth more than a couple listens.
Nex wears its influences on its leather-bound, spiky sleeves, being heavily inspired by the second-wave fury of bands like Urgehal, Mayhem, and Marduk. Sicarius know not to bother with a useless opener, as Cold Death takes about two seconds to go from naught to full blast with no reprieve, and if there’s a positive I can say here, it’s that Sicarius has at the very least improved the songwriting from God of Broken Roots, with there being no hidden tracks this time and lead single An Aptitude for Elimination being really cutthroat, in your face blackened fare. Even with this much more straight to the point sound, I still am left a bit bored by Nex. Clearly, Sicarius have a strong start on Nex, but by Banshee, they’re just writing rather generic black metal that continues for most of the rest of the record until the lead single three tracks later. Interlude Ambuscade isn’t needed, and while it does lay further claim to the “crime-drama” aspect with its samples, Nex just feels a bit too bloated by the end of its around 50-minute runtime, and leaves me wishing they had trimmed the fat or just made everything a lot more high-energy and really throat-crushing, like some of the earlier tracks.
I’m a bit conflicted on the return of Sicarius. I’m glad they’re back, since I really enjoyed Serenade of Slitting Throats, and I like how committed they are to being very murderous sounding black metal, but I wish they took a bit more time to really make themselves have an original sound, rather than sounding unfortunately like most other black metal bands I’ve listened to. I have no idea if there will be a follow-up to Nex, given the unpredictable history of Sicarius, but I can only hope the songwriting is leagues better, because Nex unfortunately just ain’t it.
(2.5 / 5)
