"The Sixth" is album number six (surprise) of German horde THORMESIS from Bavaria. Unfortunately I totally missed out the band before and was more than curious to listen to their material and I must say, they do not disappoint at all. Looking at their band picture at Encyclopedia Metallum, I expected a bit more grim material but was happy to hear their melodic Black Metal tunes. The opening track ‘Sonnen’ is more than fantastic. It has been a while since a track has caught me that fast and it was spinning in my car on heavy rotation. The combination between its fantastic lead melody and the even better keyboards (I normally hate keyboards) is really outstanding. The grim but not overdone vocals are really good and get varied with their Pagan rooted chants. This track in the German language convinces from start to the end and the fantastic production does the rest. ‘Thy Morbid Drunken Ways’ was put out as digital single before and continues where the opener stopped. Worth to mention here again are the fantastic vocals but also the damn good Heavy Metal tunes which get a very good Black Metal painting. The atmosphere is very intense and again the keyboards fit in very well and show, that keys can be used without beeing annoying or sounding wimpy at all. The third track ‘Chor Der Toten’ captivates with an fantastic intro, a damn good groovy lead melody and very fine instrumentation and again very good vocal work. The fantastic guitar melody drills itself immediately into the brain and demands more and more spins of this fantastic track. Definitely the best track on this good album. ‘Zeichen Zum Grund’ reduces the speed and brutality and shows again that THORMESIS are heading into a more melodic direction with their music which makes their material very versatile as their melody ideas are so creative and fine that the album is definitely far above average. The fifth track ‘Lichtermeer’ continues very melodic and sounds again like black painted Heavy Metal before the guys increase the speed again. Also they manage to keep the German vocals in a very good flow with the melodies and leads and so the German lyrics make this journey even more interesting. ‘One Last Tear For Every Burned Soul’ starts pretty intense and with Pagan styled chants before turning into mid-paced and melancholic breathed Black Metal. The band closes this album with the last track ‘Deadened Skies’ which again has this damn good Heavy Metal styled lead melody and again very varied vocals. As we do not rate albums at VFTD, I save my nine of ten points for me and thank the guys for this good album. More info can be found via the following sources: www.facebook.com/officialthormesis, www.mdd-records.de