What a beautiful, majestic album. These guys are the masters of mixing power metal and black metal, so I encourage fans of either genre to check this band out. I find that many power metal bands have boring, derivative sounding guitar, but these guys are very creative, and evoke mood and atmosphere with every riff. The vocals alternate between profound sounding clean vocals, and raspy, yet clear black metal style. The band writes epic songs, all with plenty of definition. Some parts of the album remind me of Blind Guardian, but better and more complex. From the very melodic first track, The Eye of Odin, where the vocalist shows his incredible range, you can tell this album is destined to be a masterpiece. It does not let you down. Track five, To Mount and Rove, sounds like a song of mourning, and progresses with perfection to the more cold and evil sounding, Grimland Domain. This album has many parts which captivate the listener and stay in his mind, while also remaining true to black metal fans who like an element of harshness.

This review is credited to:
Julian Forbes