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Here's the kind of Black Metal that I like most. The Finnish armed penguins known as Angelscourge play 90s-tinged, Swedish Black Metal à la Mörk Gryning, Vinterland, Sacramentum, Dissection and Dark Funeral. That's the specific era that I adore most in the whole history of Black Metal. Angelscourge sound melodic, atmospheric, relatively epic, aggressive and to top it off the music is darn well-crafted from start to finish with a fitting production. Seraph Impaler is the title of Angelscourge's debut full-length studio album and I expected a quality record as the band's 3-track 2012 demo, In the Realm of the Horned, made a promise of great things to come. I am glad they managed to pull it together so well on Seraph Impaler. The songs are majestic and awe-inspiring as they follow the blackened trails of the semi-cult names from the Swedish Black Metal scene some 20 years ago.   

On Seraph Impaler there are only six songs but they are all pretty lengthy; from 5+ minutes to nearly 10, which is unusual for a Black Metal band. Still, even with the extra minutes squeezed into the songs it's difficult to find a dull moment. They have apparently spent their time carefully composing the material for Seraph Impaler and I wouldn't have been surprised to see it show up on the now-defunct Swedish label No Fashion Records back in the day, the album sounds so "swedenized". Nevertheless, a surprisingly good Black Metal record here from Angelscourge.