Hailing from wintriest Canada, NOCTURNAL DEPARTURE were birthed from yellow moonlit darkness between Beltane and Lughnasadh of 2017 into a campaign of rejection and disgust for Christendom and the hypocritical norms of society. Almost literally a band out of time, NOCTURNAL DEPARTURE harken to the grim days of the ’90s black metal underground, particularly its most devout sectors just south of the border in the United States, as the adage goes – and its raw, desperate violence evinces elements of Judas Iscariot, Masochist, Black Funeral, Summon, and Blood Storm but undeniably with a personality all its own. TRADITIONAL black metal, then, no more but definitely no less: Clandestine Theurgy is a throwback masterclass.