This is the third release Asphyxiate Recordings from Australia sent me to review in VFTDS and unfortunately I’m not so happy with this one. I totally enjoyed their two other releases they sent me (MANDATORY’s "Where They Bleed" and CREEPING’s "Funeral Crawl") – check out the reviews somewhere else on these pages – but this one don’t work for me at all. The promo sheet the label sent me calls ELYSIAN BLAZE’s music Trance Enducing Ritual Metal, still this doesn’t say anything about the quality of their music. I would call it doomy Black Metal with atmospheric keyboards. There are keyboard-landscapes here creating a gloomy atmosphere and together with the vocals they are the most promising on this release. I hardly hear a snare drum and the cymbals are far too loud, the rhythm played is just a monotonous beat, the guitars are also hard to discover and if you hear them you hear nothing special. ELYSIAN BLAZE already released two full length CDs and as far as I heard they were quite well appreciated in the scene, therefore I hope and guess this release, as it is a re-release of their demo with the same name from the year 2003 (plus the additional bonustrack ‘Despair’) doesn’t represent the quality of the band anymore. As I don’t know their other releases I’m the wrong one to judge that. So if you want to check out this band, better try the other two releases "Cold Walls & Apparitions" and "Levitating The Carnal" – hope you are on the safe side there. Just need to mention that Asphyxiate Recordings will release this year ELYSIAN BLAZE’s third album. Go to www.asphyxiaterecordings.com for ordering details and sound samples (to build your own opinion), or have a look at www.metribution.com as they are one of the distributors of the releases from Asphyxiate Recordings.

When an album had been released over 5 years ago as an underground tape, 2007 as an official CD and is now re-issued for the European market by our dear friends from Osmose Productions we should be confident that a piece of musical class is following this release. ELYSIAN BLAZE is an Australian project founded in 2003 by the only band member Mutatiis and the musical direction is more or less very similar to their country mates STRIBORG and the German VINTERRIKET. If I would describe "Beneath Silent Faces" as a color I would choose lightgrey taking into account that STRIBORG is representing total darkness and VINTERRIKET the snow covered mountains which they set to music. What makes this release really enjoyable if you are a fan of the Ambient / Black Metal style is the clear sound which gives the listener during the trip to the dark a chance to focus on the different shapes, shades and shadows. The release is very similar to the 2007 Asphyxiate version (but a different cover), meaning one bonus track (‘Despair’) in comparison with the 2004 tape version. After this good release I start to wonder why we are still connecting sun, kangaroos and MORTIFICATION with Australia because ELYSIAN BLAZE is showing a totally different face of this vast continent. www.osmoseproductions.com