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I finally got my hands on this newly mixed version of symphonic Finnish Death Metallers Renascent's second album, titled somewhat boldly Praise of the Lord God Almighty. And yes, as the album's title hints, we're talking about a strongly Christian-themed group here, which doesn't make the tabloids any longer as Christian Metal has been out there for years already (let's not bring Stryper into the same discussion though, not this time).

Praise of the Lord God Almighty is actually a pretty amazing package of both symphonic and Blackened Death Metal and top-notch musicianship. Both Eero's crushingly heavy guitar parts and Mikaela's keyboards seem to be all over the place, clearly dominating the album's soundscape. Renascent manage to sound really menacing and even frightening throughout this album, which is loaded with controlled energy outbursts of all things pompous, atmospheric and just sweetly enjoyable. The playing is tight and fantastic and everything and at times the band delivers the goods in a kind of over the top fashion, rolling over all of us with mangling and pulverizing walls of huge, razor-sharp riff rolls and Eero's ravenous beast-like vocal patterns. As for Eero's guitar work, one could say that the later-era Carcass has been some sort of a role model: Renascent's own 'Carcass moment' comes through most clearly on songs such as "Diabolical Conquest" and "In the Shadow of the Almighty," in which Mikaela's keyboard parts remind me of some of the folky and prog-ish keyboard parts from Amorphis. All in all, there are several different, but very cool and tasteful elements to be digested.