Review Summary: Featuring strong musicianship and riffs behind frenzied vocals, Far Beyond Divine Horizons is yet another great old school death metal release.
Crystal Age is yet another death metal band that got lost in the crowd of the early death metal scene, and, as one can often expect, released an excellent but sadly ignored album. After the band created
Far Beyond Divine Horizons they split up, as the band vocalist, ex-
Ceremonial Oath vocalist Oscar Dronjak began to focus on his side project, the now famous
Hammerfall. However, Far Beyond Divine Horizons is a worthy release of the band that matches up quite easily with more famous albums released by their peers, demonstrating melodic and technical riffs that set it apart in terms of its content.
The instrumentation on this album is great. The guitar work is varied and tight, with fast and thrashy riffs alongside more technical patterns, as well as dissonant chords and melodic harmonies that help to keep areas distinct, while excellent, melodic guitar solos are frequent and effective. The bass is really easily audible and while it follows the guitar riffs for the most part, it does get some of its own fills that are bother competent and effective. The drum work is tight and fast, with strong blast beats and double bass often present that keep the album driving. Vocal work on the album is rather frenzied and aggressive, with Oscar performing upper range shrieks reminiscent of black metal but with a hoarser quality that give them a more death-metal oriented sound, which suites the overall sound a lot. The production is good too, with all the instruments being easily audible and powerful sounding.
The title track kicks off the album with some excellent riffs and an early solo that sets the song along its way effectively, making it quickly entertaining, while a short Voivod-like middle section keeps the variety strong while it continues effectively to be an early highlight of the album.
Fortune And Glory is just as strong, with some even better riffs and grooves as well as some excellent melodic elements that develop towards the middle of the song. A short Star Wars sound clip leads into the dizzying
The Beauty Of Evil which manages to be dissonant and melodic at varying points, while its short length ensures that you won't get bored.
Windwalker is even shorter, but is full of excellent riffs and melodies with some really good drum work that offsets the guitars effectively.
Crystals Of The Wise opens melodically and features yet more brilliant riffing with some effective stop-start dynamics, while
Tempt Not Thy Maker opens with a simple clean introduction before delving into some intense riffing that crushes the skulls of listeners.
Star Destroyer opens with some quick lead work before plunging into some of the best riffs on the album and an entertaining mid-paced middle section before delving into some excellent, technical riffs, and the album concludes with
Retaliation, which explodes into action after its short synth intro, with some thrashy and melodic riffs that make it a satisfying closer.
The album, while strong throughout its duration, does have some minor issues. The overall mood of the album rarely changes, with it mostly displaying furious power and melody but without really using it to change individual songs into any particular direction away from that of the other tracks. Also, the riffs are rarely used for an especially long time, so the songs may feel slightly unstructured or unmemorable, though they are extremely strong and entertaining during a listen. These issues do not prevent this album from being among the better death metal albums of its time, with entertaining riffs and great technical prowess shown throughout.
Recommended Tracks:
The Beauty Of Evil
Far Beyond Divine Horizons
Star Destroyer
Retaliation
Tempt Not Thy Maker
Windwalker
