Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled
Throne of Ultima Thule
Byron - vocals
Johnny Maudling - drums and studio keyboards
Chris Maulding - guitar and studio bass
Jason Porter - bass
Leon Forest - keyboards
1. A Commercial From Crapaphonyous for your PC
2. Black Dragons Soar Above the Mountain of Shadows (Prologue)
3. To Dethrone the Witch Queen of Mytos K'unn
4. As the Vortex Illumines the Crystalline Wallsof Kor-Avul-Thaa
5. Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule
6. Journey to the Isle of the Mists
7. The Spledour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming
Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire
8. And Lo, When the Imperium Marches Against Gul-Kothoth,
Then Dark Sorceries Shall Enshroud the Citadel of the Obsidian Crown
9. Summoning the Guardians of the Astral Gate
10. In the Raven Haunted Forests of the Darkenhold,
Where Shadows Reign and the Hues of Sunlight Never Dance
11. At the Altar of the Dreaming Gods (Epilogue)
A very thick sounding black metal (or as they like to be called "Barbarian Metal") with crystal clear production and excellent songwriting. The lyrics are all fantasy lyrics. The lead singer is telling a very long story of war and triumph. If you read the song titles you will notice that when put together they make coherent verses. That's really cool. This band's sound is similar to Cradle of Filth, but the songwriting is completely original and unique. It's a blend of medival, viking and black/death metal. Byron's clean vocals are nice and deep and sounds really good. The drumming is nice and tight and the guitars are so thick and pretty low. Bal-Saggoth has the "wall-of-sound" thing going very well. A very unique and damn good band to say the least!
Production rating 10/10
Songwriting 10/10
Battle Magic
Byron - vocals
Johnny Maudling - drums and studio keyboards
Chris Maulding - guitar and studio bass
1. Battle Magic
2. Naked Steel (The Warrior's Saga)
3. A Tale from the Deep Woods
4. Return to the Praesidium of Ys
5. Crystal Shards
6. The Dark Liege of Chaos is Unleashed at the Ensorcelled Shrine of Azura-Kai (The Spledour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire part 2)
7. When Rides the Scion of Storms
8. Blood Slakes the Sand at the Circus Maximus
9. Thwarted by the Dark (Blade of the Vampyre Hunter)
10. And Atlantis Falls...
To me, this album was a bit of a disappointment. The band's sound didn't change that much since the last album. The guitars are much thinner, the bass still copies the guitar line, the riffs are pretty good, but sound like the last album. The lyrics are the same kind of thing too. The only difference between the two is that Byron's clean vocals have vibrato on them.
Production rating 10/10
Songwriting Same thing as the last album
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