“ancient”
Ancient
Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends
Metal Blade
Norwegian Black metal brought to you by a bloodthirsty bunch known as Ancient. This release has all the black metal characteristics, such as high-pitched guitars and vocals with music played faster then the average human can stand. One of the things that set this album apart is that the production is a bit better then a lot of the black metal bands I have heard in the past. It is not quite perfect though, the treble was just a bit too high. I realize that black metal is dominated by a high treble effect, but in this case, I think that the knobs were just a bit past what they should be, and it takes away from the quality of the production
A few other strong points of the group are the creativity in their songs. They have a talent to put chants and menacing laughter in all the right places. The last half of the album shows an even more creative side of the band with the lustfully dark track “Willothewisp” featuring the female vocal chants of Erichte. That is not all, you can hear the restful ambiance of “Neptune,” or the jungle beats of the song “5,” or even an old metal classic “Black Funeral” from King Diamond’s early days. This is quite a complex release and despite any detail I may have griped about, it is quite a good release that should be given a few minutes of your time if you like music like this. Metal Blade Records, 2828 Cochran St., Suite 302, Simi Valley, CA 93065-2793; http://www.ancientband.com/
