heavy-metal-darkness: Thus Defiled | Through The Impure Veil Of Dawn/ Wings Of The Nightstorm

Monday, December 15, 2025

Thus Defiled | Through The Impure Veil Of Dawn/ Wings Of The Nightstorm | VIC Records (Remaster)

Release Date: November 28^th, 2025
Format: CD/Digital
Genre: Black Metal
Country: UK

Thus Defiled emerged from England in the early 1990s, at a time when black metal was mutating and spreading far beyond its Norwegian birthplace. Standing close to the first wave spirit of Venom and walking parallel to peers like Cradle Of Filth, the band carved a darker and more traditional path. Their first full lengths, released in 1995 and 1997, captured a raw devotion to black metal rooted in metal riffing, atmosphere and blasphemous imagery, long before refinement became part of their identity.

The VIC Records remaster unites “Through The Impure Veil Of Dawn” and “Wings Of The Nightstorm” as a single statement of Thus Defiled’s formative era. The debut album presents a harsh and shadowed sound where metal riff structures sit at the core, wrapped in dark melodies and grim vocals. Songs stretch into epic shapes without excess, allowing tracks like “Under Blackening Horizons” and “Fear Us For We Are The Darkness” to unfold with a strong sense of drama. The atmosphere is cold and archaic, driven by youthful intensity rather than refinement.

“Wings Of The Nightstorm” expands the band’s vision with longer compositions and a broader melodic reach. The songwriting grows more involved, with themes of darkness and domination explored through extended arrangements and layered guitar work. Tracks such as “(Angelblood) The Tears Of An Age Now Dead” and “Empire Of Souls Bleeding” reflect a band stepping into a wider scope, sounding more ambitious and severe while staying grounded in classic black metal tradition. The darker grandeur hinted at on the debut becomes more pronounced here.

The remastering gives these albums renewed strength without altering their original character. The sound remains raw and rooted in its time, fitting the era that produced it. The inclusion of rare rehearsal material adds historical depth, revealing ideas that fed directly into the band’s early direction. This reissue serves as a clear document of British black metal in the mid 1990s, marked by devotion, atmosphere and metal driven songwriting rather than polish.

Taken together, these albums show why Thus Defiled earned lasting respect in the underground. They capture a period where hunger and dedication mattered more than precision, and that spirit remains intact decades later. This release stands as an important archive of early UK black metal history.

Score: 7.0 | 7.5