Kev Rowland Alghazanth have been around for the best part of 20 years now, and has throughout its rather lengthy lifespan incorporated elements of the more melodic kind into its more or less traditional brand of black metal. The lyrical aspects of Alghazanth have always revolved around Satanism and all that it entails, but just like the musical expression itself has been refined. Initially, in 1995, the band started as a two-man show but grew into a bit more real band soon after this. They have been through many line-up changes through the years, but drummer and lyricist Gorath Moonthorn, and Thasmorg (the original vocalist/guitarist) are still here, although after over a decade of concentrating solely on the guitar, Thasmorg is now handling the vocals again. In addition, he also switched from the role of a guitarist to that of bassist. Along with some other line-up changes, the band now feel revitalized and that certainly comes through in the music.

What we have here is melodic BM, which somehow also manages to maintain a rawness and intensity, even though there are some keyboards used here and there to provide an additional symphonic feel. Here is a band that aren’t afraid to drop in an acoustic guitar here, or choral vocals there, whatever it takes to give this album an additional veneer of professionalism. Looking at the photos of the band on their website one may be forgiven in thinking that all that they do all day is play with corpse paint and blood, but give the sound of this I rather think that they spend a great deal of time rehearsing and polishing as this is incredibly tight. This is definitely something that fans of the genre should seek out. www.inverse.fi