Cost: $2.00
Bands are often laughably overzealous in marketing themselves, and as a result I've seen plenty of ridiculously exaggerated sound comparisons and descriptions. So I was quite surprised this actually does sound a lot like Arcturus mixed with some Devil Doll (in a more metallic context) influences, who the band cite as primary inspirations. Most of the music is very much in an avant-garde post-debut Arcturus vein, particularly La Masquerade Infernale. They tend to dip into extreme influences more, and early on there are a lot of full-on black metal passages (though far, far less than I expected before listening). Much of the direct BM influence dies down as the album goes on, replaced by more Cradle of Filth-like extreme sections with rasped/growled vox. On the subject of vocals, while I'm not a huge Arcturus/Garm fan, the clean vocals here are not that strong--they're not terrible, but I could see the accent and lack of polish turning off Arcturus fans looking for something somewhat similar. I also found nothing particularly special about the guest vocalists.
They also go farther than the Norwegians in terms of musical weirdness. There are lots of carnival type melodies that create quite a playfully sinister atmosphere, occasional electronic effects, and the track "Psichic Waltz"--the intent is clearly some kind of incantation with background tribal drumming, but it sounds equally like demented world music. It's these types of things which evoke the Devil Doll influences.
Now, all of that's well and fine, but the original music on here isn't particularly up my musical alley. No, what really interested me is the unlisted cover of "At War with Satan." It's 20:37 long. Yep! They do the whole thing. I'm unaware of anyone else ever having covered it in its entirety (and the only cover I'd previously heard was the truncated version by Cronos' solo band). It's a more gothic/symphonic-oriented take on the song, and unfortunately a lot of the progressiveness and atmosphere of the middle section are lost. I was impressed by the spot-on cadence of the vocals at times, and the dreamy acoustic guitar section is wonderfully executed, despite not having the female vocals and pulsing effects behind it. While no match for the original, it's commendable that they kept a comfortable quality level and avoided a total trainwreck--it's not too minimalist (and thus cheap sounding), but they also avoid overdoing it with too many effects and flourishes.
