It’s been a while since we heard something from Nagash and his crew with their majestic TROLL. Nine years is a long time and on the music market it is even longer. A great come-back was in order and so they did. The new TROLL album is what I have been expecting since Drep De Kristne.
I must admit I was a little bit doubtful, since the path they were taking with the previous album, Universal, wasn’t on my liking. But Neo-Satanic Supremacy did kill my doubts and made the old Black Metal soul in me jump in raptures.

Most of us will surely remember the mid-90s and the passage which many Black Metal bands took at that time, a passage to a more symphonic way of making Black Metal. At that time Nagash himself was a part of Dimmu Borgir and also having his own project what was then Covenant with a C. Without doubt that, during the 90’s he was heavily influenced by this way of making Metal and time shows that old habits die hard. Today we are offered Neo-Satanic Supremacy, which is more or less a blast from the past, in the terms of the approach of the Symphonic Black Metal.

The album itself is very compact and if you’re expecting melodic and smashing guitar riffs, catchy keyboard pieces and very diverse growling, that’s what you’ll get. The whole album is well produced, nothing that would stand out as disturbing or not at its place. Lyrically wise I must point out that six out of ten tracks are in Norwegian, which personally I take it a great thing to do, since I like my Black Metal in Norwegian.

As the highlights of the album I single out Burn The Witch and Hvor Tåken Ligger Så Trist Og Grå. While Burn The Witch is heavily concentrated on the guitar and vocals, in Hvor Tåken Ligger Så Trist Og Grå the keyboards stand out with somewhat enchanting symphonic piece that I am humming ever since I heard it first.

This is an album from the golden era. Are they bringing us back to the roots or forward to the future of Symphonic Black Metal, I dare not guess. What I can assure you that, if you’re Symphonic Black Metal, you’re going to enjoy TROLL’s new Neo-Satanic Supremacy.