Ad Inferna – L’Empire des Sens
Once breathing under the moniker DE PROFUNDIS (I still wonder why it is that Symphonic BM and Goth bands seem to choose this name), AD INFERNA play a not very innovative variant of symphonic BM. Generally speaking, there are a number of obvious (DIMMU BORGIR, CRADLE OF FILTH, EMPEROR) and other not so obvious influences. The first time I heard the CD, I even thought there were some LIMBONIC ART touches to it, but fortunately or not, AD INFERNA never come close to what the Norwegian duo create.
Melechesh – Emissaries
Uhh Melechesh, even though i was going to review this, still someone had to tell me i HAD TO REVIEW THIS ONE, so ok… here it goes, Melechesh hails from Jerusalem but its actual headquarters are in the Netherlands, playing a self titled “Mesopotamian Metal”, well i don’t know about the self titled genres… a bit more and well see a bunch of bands saying ohhh no we play “Manhattan Death” or Amazoniancore hehehe, so for everyone that finds that silly, we’ll just call it a fusion of Black Metal with traditional Middle Eastern instruments, well lets have a listen, shall we.
Krieg – Destruction Ritual
Destruction Ritual is Krieg’s acclaimed full-length… but I would say it is pushing it a bit too far calling this a ‘full-length’ recording: 4 of the songs are included in The Church and I believe most of the remaining songs are re-recordings of old demo tracks. But okay, let us call it a new album for the moment and move on to what Imperial (guitars, vocals, effects) and Duane Timlin (session drummer) brought forth, with a little help from Judas Iscariot’s Akhenaten in the engineering of the album.