Well, this new album of LORD BELIAL has nothing to do with the old and more brutal sound of the band. Slowly rotting, flowing, drowning and marching, this masterpiece could encourage a young, sad soul to cut the own flesh. Very melodic, low and doomy – melancholic lead guitars with several clean parts and really groovy bass lines. The older albums Unholy Crusade (1999), Angelgrinder (2002) and Purify Sweden (2003) could not really satisfy me or even justify the current emotional level of LORD BELIAL.
Gloomy and misty black metal guitars exchange with pure Rock’n’Roll feeling. But I think the vocals are too weak for such a deep music, bearing a strong satanic aggression within the songs. You can also say that there is a very threatening atmosphere, phantom-like and very dark with doomy harmonies. Sometimes it can be compared to the latest Hypocrisy sound.
Ghostly female voices rise in the darkness of clean guitars and accompanied by a deep bass male vocal. LORD BELIAL sound more “evil” than a pure blast metal band, although they have many fast parts, too in songs like Acies Sigillum for example.
At the end of this review I pay tribute to this great and very exactly drummer who supports really every note of his band. The Seal Of Belial is maybe the most Swedish album!!! ;)