Judas Iscariot, the most well-known USBM band, and deservedly so! Everything he has put out has been simply amazing.. and here is his newest (best, most original, etc.), HEAVEN IN FLAMES.. and what a fucking disc it is!!! The first song along is worth the 15 bucks for this disc by itself... First I shall describe the changes from the past albums.. here, there is SOME synth work, but its not the synth work you are used to.. rather, its just a bleak sound in the background, adding to a bleak, desolate atmosphere full of pain and agony.. so as you can tell, this works extremely well!.. In the riffs there is less of a straightforward darkthrone approach, he has found his own style (although he had it on the other cd's.. but not as original as this), and makes it work unbelievably..... Now onto the music.. Guitars, as said before, are still as black metal and simplistic as ever, but have their own style, riffing razor hard and giving images of hopelessness, emptiness, and other such things.. bass follows the guitars so expect the same there.. Drumming is very good, simplistic yes, but ultra-slow paced, and extremely fitting to the music.. adding more of a marching feeling, but sticking to the bleak atmosphere.. vocals are performed extremely well.. they aren't really done like other black metal bands, instead of sounding hateful and evil, they sound (like the rest of this music) drained, washed out, sorrowfull... and it works very well... so pretty much what you have here is one of the most desolate, bleak, sorrowfull, etc. atmospheres ever laid onto disc, done in a very original way, and still sticking true to the old ways of black metal... This is one of the best black metal discs of all time, BUY OR DIE!

Appeal: Fans of raw black metal.. specifically Burzum (although this isn't very Burzum like, the atmospheres are similar)

© 2001 niosrever