UMUR "Triumvirát" is the debut full-length studio album by Czech Republic black metal act Cult of Fire. The album was initially independently released in July 2012 but has since seen a label release on CD through the Norwegian label Demonhood Productions. In addition to that a tape version including the "20:11 (2011)" EP was also released in September 2012 by Atomic Vision Productions/In League With Satan Productions.

The band play a rather old school sounding black metal with references to acts like Root and Master´s Hammer. The sound production on the album also makes it sound like it could have been released in the late eighties early nineties. The band incorporate a lot of atmosphere and epic sounding sections in their music too, so it´s safe to say that "Triumvirát" is a varied black metal release. The demo tracks that are included on the tape version of the album are in the same style albeit more raw and slightly less interesting. However original album tracks like "Závet Svetu", "Satan Mentor" (love that songtitle!) and "Cerná Aura" should be more than enough to entertain the listener.

Overall "Triumvirát" is both an adventurous and an old school black metal release, but it´s really not that surprising considering that Cult of Fire are a Czech Republic. A lot of the eastern European black metal acts play black metal with a twist. Sometimes with an unintentional funny twist but mostly with an adventurous twist that provides their music with more variation than most of the really old school Norwegian acts can muster (of course with exceptions). Cult of Fire belong to the latter catagory and "Triumvirát" is a greatly entertaining black metal release all through it´s playing time. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature Satan mentor...

Genre: black metal

A relatively new band, Cult of Fire nonetheless comprises members who are veterans on the Czech extreme metal scene. Their debut album "Triumvirát" was preceded by an EP, but individually, the band's members have a host of releases under their respective belts - and this experience shows on their debut.

Stylistically, Cult of Fire very much bridges the gap between first wave and second wave black metal. Thus, in the spirit of Norwegian black metal, the listener is treated to tremolo-picked guitars and blastbeats accompanied by screechy harsh vocals. But at the same time, there seems to be a quite considerable influence from the likes of their fellow countrymen in Root and the Italian black metal act Abhor. This means that you can expect a dose of melody sprinkled on top of the black metal madness in the form of both guitar and keyboard leads. Moreover, Cult of Fire make use of atmospheric keyboards and even effects that sound like a church organ (I love the irony of the use of the church organ effect in 'Satan Mentor').

In fact, the atmospheric aspect is a central ingredient of the music on this album, and perhaps "Triumvirát" is best described as a type of atmospheric black metal. In addition to the use of keyboards, there are a couple of passages with are accompanied by other types of atmospheric effects - most notably the creepy bridge in 'Cerna Aura' which features a blend of tortured screams and humming noises. Also, Cult of Fire make extensive use of reverb, which is quite common in atmospheric black metal.

Definitely and interesting album, "Triumvirát" should be checked out by any aficionado of black metal.