The first of the Swordmaster releases, and nowhere near as "retro" as the material they've done since - this is straight ahead modern black metal played in the Swedish style (i.e.: lots of choppy rhythms, frantic time changes, semi-melodic lead guitar lines, and you usual black rasp vocal approach). I'm not really a fan of this type of thing anymore (too many cooks spoil the broth as they say, and these days Swedish black metal bands are about a dime a dozen), but Swordmaster put in a good performance and manage to sound somewhat fresh, despite how stale this particular style is. Perhaps its the slightly more angry than usual sounding vocals, or the understated production, but whatever it is there's something here that appeals to even my jaded taste. Pick this up - it's a decent mCD (3 tracks plus an outro, just over 14 minutes long), and it just might surprise you at how vital and energetic it manages to sound...

© 1999 chorazaim