At The Gates Of Utopia
(Scarlet Records)
47:03min
Oh yes, these guys are definitely from Italy! Like 99% of the Italian True Metal Warriors, these Melodic Black / Death talents suffer from a too dominant keyboard. Don’t get me wrong: using keyboards CAN improve a band’s sound immensely, but if the music drowns in sweet plastic it gets annoying. Sometimes this happens to STORMLORD songs. Apart from that, their second full-length is a kick ass album with a good balance of fierce brutality and kind of “epic” melodies which sometimes makes me think of DIMMU BORGIR. This CD combines elements of (dominant) Black, Death and “True” Metal on quite a high level making the band sound original indeed. Additionally, there is a great cover artwork by Joe Petagno (Motörhead, Marduk, etc.) and although the keyboard problem is striking, the guitars sound quite raw, so check it out anyway. www.stormlord.net
Ramon Claassen
• STORMLORD - The Gorgon Cult (Ramon Claassen)
• STORMLORD - The Curse Of Medusa (Frank Stöver)