• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Well, this is essentially two guys from Therion getting back to their Death roots. A bit of mystery has been intentionally built up about this band, with bandmembers real names not even being used in the booklet and the only 'band pic' a heavily photoshopped painting of the titular Four Horsemen.

Musically this is aggressive Melodic Death metal with a very Gothenburg flavor, but not too much of one. Rather than endless melodic noodling we get a lot of thrashy riffs and chunky rhythm playing, plus the expected melodic leads. I'm not really surpised by the sound of this album, as I was pretty much expecting it to sound like this, but I am impressed with the quality and consistency. Yes, this sounds pretty much like Therion playing In Flames/Dark Tranquility/Children of Bodom-style melodeath, albeit with more punch and a nicely evil attitude. But there are no filler tracks on here, and nothing stupid or mellow. (The Therion thing can't really be disguised – they play too many riffs that sound like Therion, and they even throw in some operatic female vocals here and there – I think they can't help it.) This thing is just energetic and aggressive from note one all the way through. The most impressive bit from a performance standpoint is the drums, which the booklet asserts are entirely acoustic, with no samples or triggers. If that's true, then the already outstanding drums are even more impressive.

My only beef with this is that it is just a little bit to clean and generic, for it's style. This is very good Melodic Death Metal, but not really groundbreaking. I enjoy this a lot, but it has the flavor of metal junk food, and I don't really know if I'll be spinning it for that long. A fine album, and a worthy purchase, but not quite up there with Ninnghizzidda or Solar Dawn if you ask me.