Metal Reviews

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Awesome review. This is one of my favorite MDB albums.

Cheers, CotB, glad you liked the review.

Thanks for the review. This album is one of those ones I would always relish listening to, particularly with the start of She is the Dark and Edenbeast.
Anyone ever consider Edenbeast as an alternate soundtrack to the manor assembly scene in 'Eyes Wide Shut'? The lyrics certainly fit in places:
Faces stay hidden
Behind their dark masks
In arms they enter
The Great Hall of Sin
Eden, calls again
For sick minds. For me

Inside there. All laid bare
Take your pick. Devour now

I guess you got a different read from the track...anyhow I would definitely state it typifies MDB at their very best.

Unfortunately, the album has its share of clunkers, The Night He Died being the most obvious; however, I always loved the lurching, tired, main riff of "Christliar" and the creepy entry into death vocals mid way through. Combine these highlights with the title track, and maybe Isis Script and you have a near masterpiece. They just missed the mark on this one with too muck filler, a problem I thought they resolved on The Dreadful Hours.

Cheers, emperor, and welcome back, by the way!

Yeah, I agree with you that this is cloase to being a really special album, but there's too much filler. Like I said in the review, I do feel that the best side of MDB is the more gothic, melodic side as opposed to the death-y side. Hence why the best tunes here are IMO Edenbeast and the title track. Their last one is great, too, because it concentrates on that side to their sound.

Thanks Rio. I see the forum has greatly changed over the years, and I'm feeling a wee bit old and nostalgic.

You becoming a reviewer and reviewing a lot of MDB's old catalog was a good sign for me to return once again.

Generally, I agree with you on their melodic strength, (Two Winters Only, Le Figlie Della Tempesta, The Wreackage of My Flesh), however, I like a presence of the heavier stuff (tracks like The Raven and the Rose, the violent parts of Edenbeast) to balance things out. Like Gods of the Son and 34.78% complete have not aged very well.