Pantheon-I - Worlds I Create (2009)

Pantheon I is a five piece outfit from Norway that play traditional Black Metal with a very interesting sounding twist, they use Cello arrangements to complement their blasphemous music.

While it’s nothing new to use <insert any instrument here> with Black Metal, Pantheon I actually achieved a very characteristic sound that not many bands trying to mix something with BM have achieved.

After listening to “Worlds I Create” I must say that at some points in reminded me of less bombastic version of Tvangeste. The band does not use any additional elements to make their sound be called Symphonic, since the Cello, provided by Julianne Kostøl is the only extra element this band has, no keyboards of anything else.

The general sound of the band is a very traditional sounding Black Metal that would have made them one of those bands with nothing to offer, however with the majestic Cello passages in the songs the overall dynamics of their sound drastically changes making them very different from the rest.

As you can expect the drumming is bestially executed with plenty of double kick sections and traditional blast beats here and there. The bass guitar actually sounds very good, and distinguishable, in this release thanks to a very good production. Vocal wise the band uses very traditional high pitched Black Metal vocals that fit the music to perfection.

The guitar riffing is top notch, as I would expect from a very brutal Black Metal band, too bad it did not rubbed off on 1349’s latest album. But what makes this album one of the best of the year from me is how the brutality of the music merges to perfection with haunting Cello passages that make my bones chill, giving a whole eerie atmosphere to some of the tracks in this release, something that Black Metal should do, and Pantheon I excel at it in this album.

Overall “Worlds I Create” is one of my favorite Black Metal releases of this year, since it manages to fuse blasphemous BM with great melodic parts and chilling Cello passages. “Ascending” is probably one of my favorite songs of the year since it features a great combination of the band’s sound with Jonas Renkse’s vocals. Go and get this album before there are 100 clones of this band.

Release: July 28, 2009

Country: Norway