Symphonic Black Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Artep - Thy Will Be Done On Earth As Is Done In Hell (2010)

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    Hailing from Canada today we have Artep, a symphonic Black Metal band that does one heck of a job in crafting epically crushing anthems of pure darkness and destruction. The band’s first full-length release is filled with pleasing surprises for all fans of Melodic/Symphonic Black Metal.

    Signed on Bleak Art Records, the band is a great addition to their already impressive roster of bands such as: Aenaon and Sokrovenno. With no minutes to spare, Artep kicks off this release with a solid intro that sets the stage for the greatly diabolical and lush atmosphere of “The Antichrist”, the albums second track. Since this song you can hear the bands solid guitar work paired with atmospheric keyboards, making the comparisons to Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Anorexia Nerviosa, etc., an easy pick in describing the band’s bombastic and aggressive sound.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Bitter Frost – Bitter Frost (2010)

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    Out of all the self-released albums we get, we have never received such an impressive release as Bitter Frost’s self-titled debut album. With an amazing musicianship, crystal clear production, solid songwriting, and impressive guest appearances, “Bitter Frost” will surely be our favorite Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal album of the year.

    Featuring 73 minutes of impressive music, the one man band Bitter Frost takes us through many different genres of metal laid on top of a Black Metal foundation. With all the ideas and creativity behind this release, we only feel sorry for all the unsigned bands that even when combined together will never put out a release as impressive as this one.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Arcane Grail – Arya Marga (2010)

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    Boasting a majestic combination of Black, Death, and Gothic Metal with Symphonic Metal elements today we have Arcane Grail, a very bombastic band from Russia. “Arya Marga” was originally released back in March of 2009, but luckily for us the folks at Hunter’s Moon records from the UK re-released it on a digital-only format.

    Immediately the first thing that stands out is the beautiful classically-trained voice of Natalie, the band’s female vocalist for those that need clarification. The band’s music is very dynamic and it’s very well varied through the 40 minutes that “Arya Marga” lasts. There is never a dull moment and there is something for everybody ranging from full-on Black Metal aggression, Death growls and overall solid riffing.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Aherusia – And The Tides Shall Reveal The Traces (2009)

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    In a very crowded Symphonic Black Metal scene, there are only a handful of bands that I could call original. Aherusia is one of them, hailing from Greece I personally never heard of them before, but they present us their debut full-length album “And The Tides Shall Reveal The Traces”.

    The band’s sound is very rich and presents us with a very interesting atmosphere created by the distorted guitars and a cretan lyra, an instrument that I’ve never heard before in my life. This instrument sounds like a violin/viola at sometimes and it gives the band that folk-ish sound that mainly Pagan/Viking/Folk Metal bands, but with a distinctive Black Metal edge.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Troll – Neo-Satanic Supremacy (2010)

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    After almost 10 years of creeping in the dark woods of Norway, Troll is back with a new symphonic Black Metal opus that restores the momentum the band had after the release of “Universal” back in 2001.

    Featuring one remaining member of the original band, Nagash (a.k.a Stian Arnesen) the band is back with a full lineup and the purpose of kicking some major ass. “Neo-Satanic Supremacy” is less Industrial Metal than “Universal” but it sill sounds better than anything that the band released before.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Autumnblaze – Perdition Diaries (2009)

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    After Autumnblaze disbanded in 2006 I was pretty disappointed that I would never get to listen to another album from this band, but for my luck they got back together in 2008, and featuring Eldron, Arisjel and Schwadorf the band wrote and recorded “Perdition Diaries”.

    “Perdition Diaries” takes us back a bit to the older and more aggressive material the band wrote for their first album “DämmerElbenTragödie”. However the band still keeps their melancholic sound of latter releases perfectly. This album is more of a nice mixture of the bands previous musical efforts blended in together with new ideas.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Graveworm - Diabolical Figures (2009)

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    After listening to three very sub par records from this Italian band, they blow us away since track one (“Vengance Is Sworn”) of this new album. I was starting to loose faith in this band since being very disappointed with their weird musical style switch since (N)Utopia, I was a very big fan of their earlier work like “As Angels…” and “Scourge Of Malice” so when the bombastic sound they had took a hit into a more Melodic Death/Black metal I was not digging it.

    With “Diabolical Figures” they go somewhat back to their more Symphonic side of music, but not loosing their brutality and aggressiveness that has been featured in most of their albums. The catchiness of most songs in this album is stellar and would have any fan of the band head banging from start to end.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
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    Gothmog - A Step In The Dark (2008)

    A Step In The Dark is one of those albums you find yourself liking even tough they are not very original. Gothmog is clearly heavily influenced by Emperor, Cradle Of Flith, and many other black metal bands, and you can hear this in their songs

    This album is a very solid first release of this band, with some great guitar solos here and there, majestic keyboards like it’s to be expected from any good symphonic black metal band. The vocals are not annoying and are a perfect fit for this album.

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