If a band is daring to do a release over 2 hours long, they must be: a) very confident in what they are doing or: b) they do not care what other say. In this case, DØDSENGEL, the Norwegian Angel of Death, seems to have both reasons to create “Imperator”. Although they started more or less having the trademark Norwegian old school Black Metal sound, even in their first releases one could tell the band has something… something that developed slowly but clearly with every release they did… it is hard then to call this new release as just Black Metal… it will be not fair, nor it will describe the grandiose act they have dared to create. DØDSENGEL is a band that has reached their very own sound and I might add, style, within the realms of extreme Metal. Yes, their roots are there present, but then again they do not care to go through many musical styles and still keeping them in an occult evil Metal way. Things have changed a bit in the production side of things, as this one has a very powerful production, not in the sense of those awful too polished sound, no, there is that rawness essence in all, but done in a clear and powerful way, specially the guitar sound, which is full and all over the place. Then, the rhythmic section, that is also played and sounding in the right amount, with a powerful drumming, which proves evil Metal does not needs a weak drum sound. And then, to make this complete, the magnificent vocal delivery that ranges from evil Black Metal shrieks, to magnificent Death Metal screams and even powerful clean vocals. This epic piece of Metal is done with such passion and dedication that many listeners will be surprised that it flows without any problem… time passes by and every note coming out from the speakers hypnotizes with its clever composition and variety that only few band are able to come up with… this is an event so rare that similar instances can be counted with the fingers on one hand, in which a band receives the unholy inspiration to create in such a massive form that it might as well drain all from them… but alas, what the background of the band tells, I am sure we will be I for more extreme extravaganza from this occult duo…meanwhile, with such a massive and lengthy creation, this is more than enough to please worshippers of the darkest path for long time. In my book, this will be hard to top in the years to come and if the presentation is at least half of what the label promises, I will be in ecstasy. Inspiration turned to darkness and extreme devotion. www.terraturpossessions.com, www.barghest.co.uk