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At first glance, one might assume that Ancient is yet another Norwegian black metal act, probably lacking in originality and most definitely lacking any reservation of speed and brutality. However, Ancient's new album proves to be far more than just another black metal album. There is more melody and far more rhythmic variation to be found here, and as far as I'm concerned, it should be both appreciated and commended. The balance of the tracks is very nicely structured, giving the listener a taste of a little death metal and even some melodic metal while never straying too far from the black metal template. In fact, my main complaint with the album would be the fact that they did not stretch far enough away from the black metal formula. While I do praise the effort, I can't help but wish that there was a little more incorporation of the mellow segments found later in the album. Maybe a little more death metal influence like the beginning of the title track "Night Visit," which opens up with a headbanging all out thrashin' riff. I can say without reservation that I really do like this album. I don't think there's enough originality or songwriting excellence to warrant a rating higher than 7.5, but I'll be damned if I wasn't planning to give it an 8.5 just because I liked it so damn much. In a word, this album is rocking. The presentation is even pretty nice with substantially eerie cover art. I wish that it was a little bit longer, and I think that the album may also have lost too much intensity near the end since I felt (as mentioned earlier) that the mellow material was too closely bunched in the second half of the album, but it's nothing terribly damaging. Ancient has come up with a really nice album here, and I'm interested to hear some of their earlier releases now. My main question is whether this was a stretch from their previous material, or if they had always wavered somewhat on the more original side of black metal. Either way, I give it two thumbs up, check this one out.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Envision The Beast |
| 2. Rape The Children Of Abel |
| 3. Horroble |
| 4. Night Visit |
| 5. Lycanthropy |
| 6. Night Of The Stygian Souls |
| 7. Fuel The Flames |
| 8. The Truth Unveiled |
| 9. The Arctic Mirage |
| 10. Out In The Haunted Woods |
: 49.48
| Buy other Ancient albums |
