ANCIENT — The Cainian Chronicle (review)

ANCIENT — The Cainian Chronicle album cover Album · 1996 · Melodic Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Warthur
Black metal always walks a tightrope between being genuinely scary and just being a bit dorky, and Ancient certainly cross the line into dorky territory. But you can make dorkiness work for you if you embrace it in an endearing fashion - say, by making a concept album based on your favourite tabletop RPG, which is precisely what Ancient did here, basing most of the songs on the album off aspects of the mythology of Vampire: the Masquerade. (They aren't the only metal band to riff off the World of Darkness games either - Werewolf: the Apocalypse inspired Slipknot's early work.)

The band make this an endearing homage rather than a clumsy disaster by avoiding any pretense of being kvlt, embracing a melodic black metal sound which was innovative at the time and is still rather enjoyable now - like Cradle of Filth with less classical pretensions and more LARPing.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Falling From Grace Metalcore
SECONDHAND SAINTS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Letter Bombs Crossover Thrash
W70
Buy this album from MMA partners
Man Of The Mountain Doom Metal
MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Warts​-​N-​All Live From Brews And Cues Doom Metal
MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Darkest Red Melodic Metalcore
LOYALTY ENDS HERE
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

LOYALTY ENDS HERE - Deadweight (Official Video)
LOYALTY ENDS HERE
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
LOYALTY ENDS HERE - Testament (Official Video)
LOYALTY ENDS HERE
Bosh66· 19 hours ago
CRAZY GRIZZLY - PARALLAX Feat RIKO AGUS [Official Music Video]
CRAZY GRIZZLY
Bosh66· 2 days ago
CRAZY GRIZZLY - ASPERSION Feat BEARFOURS [Official Music Video]
CRAZY GRIZZLY
Bosh66· 2 days ago
CRAZY GRIZZLY - TERRA LUNA [Official Music Video]
CRAZY GRIZZLY
Bosh66· 2 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed