|
|
|
|
Opera IX quickly became one of my favorite bands when they
released "The Black Opera" last year, an album that showed the world that
the extreme metal scene still had something new and original to bring us. A
lot of this came from the wonderful female vocalist Cadaveria and the unique
keyboard enhanced song structures. Now that Cadaveria left the band to form
her own Opera IX seem to have lost one of their most creative forces. The
thing is that the new album "Maleventum" lacks some of the mystic atmosphere
and powerful songs that were the main reasons for the band's success. When
you are re-using riffs the way they have done on the third track you wonder if
they didn't find any new ones to use? Susperia did so on their last album as
well but when the rest of the material is so strong I don't care too much.
Opera IX still has a lot to offer though and they do have a few surprises like
some choir vocals on the opening track which are quite simple in their nature
but still a brave new move. There is something missing though and this album
is definitely not as exciting as their last album was. Perhaps it is because
of Cadaveria leaving the band, perhaps because they were in a rush when
writing the material or hopefully it's just a temporary lack of creativity. I
do hope that we will see Opera IX in their prime once again. Opera IX is still
one of the leading occult metal bands but I wished for something more.
Stand-out tracks: "Maleventum", "Princess Of The
Ancient".
| Tracklist |
1. Maleventum 2. Princess Of |
|
The Ancient 3. In The Dark I Found The Reflection Of The |
|
Hidden Mirrors 4. Unearthed Arcana 5. Muscaria 6. |
|
Forgotten Gods 7. In The Raven's Eye |
: 54.19
| Buy other Opera IX albums |
