  
I wasn’t aware when I first obtained the
CD in the post that it was actually quite an interesting
collaboration project, I thought it was another
unsigned british act but on further research found
that the band contain members and ex-members of
King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Therion, Krux, Dream
Evil and Amaranthe, this information has engaged
my interest in the release and raised my excitement.
There are only 8 tracks on the record but what
the album lacks in individual songs it makes up
for with their durations with many being over
the 9 minute mark, this furthers my interest because
if you’re going to have extremely long songs
you need to keep it fresh and entertaining, this
just gets more and more intriguing by the minute.
The lyrical themes and concept for the album are
quite interesting; the concept was this was to
be a dark metal musical version of the stage play
based on Umberto Eco’s book “The Name
of the Rose”, right there that to me is
an extremely different approach to a metal album
which again further excites me. Let’s start
with 10 minute long “The Gates”; what
I’m hearing here is a thick mix of symphonic
black metal, atmospheric progressive metal, heavy
as hell drum rolls and chunky guitar riffs, all
topped off with a range of gritty vocals, clean
vocals and gorgeous harmonies. The time also flies
by, they include that many different tempo changes
and interludes and breakdowns that you barely
notice how long the songs are because you find
yourself so engrossed in the music.
It also never gets stale within the track or between
each other as they don’t all sound the same,
each lengthy track brings its own distinctive
attributes to the table; “Blood Countess
Bathory” for example has some truly demonic
riffs and breakneck heavy metal sections, “The
13th Guest” is less brutal and more of a
sinister gothic style, “Mythos Lamia”
is slower paced and a bit more technical then
there’s “Stone By Stone” which
seems to put all previous styles of work together
in one epic album conclusion. It’s left
me feeling that this is one of the first albums
in a long time to be so long yet so enjoyable
in my personally opinion.
To bring this review to an end, I believe that
if you’re a fan of any kind of metal you
may not like this album but you will definitely
appreciate it. It’s not for everyone’s
taste but the technicality and the swirling combination
of musical attributes drawn in from various different
styles of metal are enough to excite any enthusiastic
metal head, especially if you’re a fan of
any of the bands these guys originally came from.
4.5/5
Review by James Webb
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