Review Summary: Shredgasmic shredsations!
After being subjected to Ages of Man, questions arose. How many symphonic movements can create a purely orchestral experience during a black metal backdrop? How metal can an album stay after lowkey desiring to be a movie soundtrack as well? Fear not, for bands such as Nightwish, Epica, and Kamelot have showed the eons just how heavy symphonic bands can sound. Yet black metal as an intended, sweeping orchestral epic? The very idea can sound like a joke. However, the blackest, most noisy metal out there can indeed harmonize well with beautiful melodies.
Injecting this tapestry with gorgeous strings and the like makes the air less icy cold. If anything, it feels warm and familiar. These melodies tend to suffocate the riffs on hand, sounding like Wintersun with some proper classical players and passion beyond hot tubbing. This type of music is cheesy because society says it is, but they may be on to something. I can imagine this music being the perfect background for a generic action movie about the ancient Romans (minus the screams). Oodles of manchildren will undoubtedly make fake battle armour to wear to a Dark Oath show.
Perfecting their sound with every song is an impressive feat. It’s a solid performance from the very loud lead growler. All helping musicians dive in to create blast beats and show off their black metal tag. While there are instrument breaks, the album generally continues kicking in an unrelenting way. Those who are not fans of loud music will need quite a pallet cleanser after this heavy filth.
Compared to Equilibrium, and similar symphonic black metal efforts, this album absolutely hits. The production is on point, assisting in a massive sound. This release may seem a bit generic at first, but once you sink your time in, the massive sound they created will be able to be fully understood. There’s a lot going on: riff flurries, aggressive drumming, icicle-y vocal shreds, and a touching orchestral soundscape. If you’re remotely a fan of this type of music you owe it to yourself to check out this release.
