As most of you know, I'm quite the hater of the modern Scandinavian scene, mainly because I think it's been dead for years now, and rarely produces anything even semi-decent. Throne of Ahaz do, although just barely getting by, produce a decent disc here. After the horribly boring first LP from this lot, I really wasn't expecting much when I was lent this disc. Alas, I was most verily surprised when I popped this disc into my player and was bombarded by some *very* proficient and doomy sounding riffs. The music is very straight forward, that is the drums are mostly fast paced and filled with bell hits, the riffs are very simple (yet successful) and the (well-done) vocals screech over and over. A great deal of this disc (as well as a very fitting version of Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath") has a drab and sick feel to it, the riffs are all very low key sounding and cranky, and make for a very dark feel. Combined with the much improved vocals (which are nicely screeched), the music becomes a fine combination between fast paced yet doomy black metal, and vile sounding vocal efforts. Sadly, the band does go into more boring Swedish territories of black metal during some songs, but the doomy, "Black Sabbath at a fast paced" songs still stick out. I hope on the next track they concentrate on that sort of sound, since they could separate themselves from the rest of the boring Scandinavian horde if successful.

© 1997 brand