One look at that cover-art and you know there can only be one person responsible, Necrolord aka Kristian Wahlin. It has that classic cold blue look to it that reminds instantly of Dissection, Bathory, Emperor, Necrophobic and a host of others. I am immediately expecting something classy and probably Swedish here and am right on one count as the band are from Holland. This is actually their fifth album and they have all been released on fairly small labels before, which is probably reason enough for Infinity to have passed me by. That art again tells you that there is likely to be an occult vibe running through the music of this trio and as play is pressed and the title track literally freezes the blood with the sound of ice winds, thunder and sinister talking it’s time to batter down the hatches and see exactly what this is going to throw at us.
A lone voice pretty much yells at the gods as the instrumental groove solidifies and then bounces away with drums cracking and crunching around a thorn laden guitar riff. Yep it has got the blood pounding and head banging from the off. There is more of a charge to things after this first track though and ‘The Opponent’ is fuller-blooded with a classic guitar weave that would not be out of place on the aforementioned Dissection or other Swedish proponents of melodic and hateful black metal. Good use of a sampled speech adds to the heavy atmosphere too. The suitably croaky vocal assault and frantic strumming guitar assault furrowing away on the likes of ‘Reginam Aeternum Noctis’ works well but the band are not afraid to slow it and enrich the sound with lush guitar harmonics bringing the melody to the fore either, giving it all a more classic sound in the process. Some dramatic explosions are also flung in and although bells and whistles may be deemed unnecessary who cares, they add to the zealous incendiary fast paced assault with meaty precision. Majestic, cold and icy ‘Beyond The Stars’ slows the pace taking in a frosty astral cold dark atmospheric plunge before speeding up the space chase ad astra and beyond.
The eight songs on the album run at just over the ¾ of an hour mark and all have authority about them combining moments of sublime melody with bursts of speed and destructiveness. It is a sound that might not be particularly original but I am going to stick my neck out and say that it is one that is rarely done today with such passion and precise delivery. Sure a decade and a half ago there would have been plenty of bands playing this style but today this is a definite retro sounding needle in a haystack. Of course the modern production bolsters it all very well too. All in all this is a solid album that gets a solid mark and combines everything one could really look for both musically and as an overall package.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply