Nyx - the given name for the Greek goddess and embodiment of night - is the fittingly climatic denouement of AARA's album trilogy based upon the 1820 gothic novel "Melmoth the Wanderer" by Charles Maturin. The Swiss melodic Black Metal band's 5th full-length since 2019, "Triade III: Nyx" is a succinctly elegant display of power and class, a paring down, tightening-up and condensation of the forceful yet nimble style the band are renowned for. As with each part of the Melmoth trilogy, AARA have pushed themselves towards a peerless realm: a suite of emotionally taut songs in which sublimated choirs, disembodied voices and myriad otherworldly textures preserve atmosphere while swarming, hyper-lyrical guitars and pounding jackhammer percussion provide Industrial-level tensile strength. Thematically the album draws on the last section of Maturin's classic book, as vocalist/lyricist Fluss imparts: "'Nyx' stands for the end, and darkness...with the stories of the protagonists coming to a conclusion. Melmoth's lover ends up in the dungeons of the Inquisition and dies of her grief after the death of the child conceived with Melmoth. But despite all the suffering of the people, Melmoth cannot convince anyone to share the lot of immortality for his soul, and so his time runs out and his existence on earth must end".
