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REVIEW: Opera IX - The Black Opera: Symphoniae Mysteriorum in Laudem Tenebrarum
Avantgarde Music, 2000
I was
mighty surprised when I first heard this album from the Italian occult black
metallers of Opera IX. I expected a mediocre achievement but their black opera
is really a dark masterpiece. Except from Cradle of Filth´s "Midian" this is
probably the best black metal release of the year. The Opera IX sound is also
a little similar to that of Cradle with powerful keyboard arrangements and
heavy guitar riffing à la Iron Maiden. What makes Opera IX special and even
better is that they have a female vocalist called Cadaveria. She has a great
voice and also looks very good to me (but who doesn´t like a woman with long
raven-dark hair?). She uses both raspy clean vocals as well as traditional
black metal screeching and sounds a lot better than most male such. I have
always been weak for the voice of Italians but Cadaveria is really a great
vocalist. Except from Cadaveria the band also includes Ossian (guitars), Vlad
(bass), Flegias (drums) and Lunaris (keyboards) who seem to be talented and
innovative musicians. The album consists of six of the band´s own creations
that tell a story about an occult journey of a spiritual warrior with magic
rituals. The final seventh song on the album is a cover version of a Bauhaus
title that was made for a vampire show. "The Black Opera" was recorded and
mixed at Studio Underground in Sweden in January 2000, produced and engineered
by Pelle Saether, assisted by Magnus Söderman and Lars
Lindén.
| Tracklist |
1. The First Seal 2. Beyond the |
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Black Diamond Gates 3. Carnal Delight in the Vortex of Evil 4. |
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Congressus cum Daemone 5. The Magic Temple 6. The Sixth Seal |
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7. Bela Lugosi´s Dead |
: 51.08
| Buy other Opera IX albums |
