666sharon666 Astarte's fifth and final album Demonized from 2007 is probably the most odd one out that the band ever released. The music on the release was recorded mostly by guest musicians Lycon and Ice with only vocals and keyboards provided by the actual members of Astarte. At least that's how things are credited in the liner notes. I'm really unsure why they would release an album like that but nevertheless Demonized ultimately ended up Astarte's swansong since leader Tristessa died in 2014 before the long planned follow-up Blackdemonium could be completed. As had been the trend with Astarte starting with Quod Superius Sicut Inferius Demonized features some guest vocalists, this time including Angela Gossow, Attila Csihar and Henri Sattler.

Musically this one is a bit different to everything that Astarte did before in that it's quite heavily death metal orientated and also the band's most intense album, which is the main reason why I consider it the odd one out. Rather than being the black sheep of their discography though this is actually probably my second favourite Astarte release after Quod Superius Sicut Inferius. Much like with Sirens I think the vocals by Tristessa may be a bit of an acquired taste but they suit the music I think and stand out more than Kinthia's did on the earlier work. The individual songs stand out more than they did on Sirens which I found to have some repetitive melodies. Especially ones like Mutter Astarte and Lycon are easy highlights. It's sad that we will not get to hear more music from Astarte but at least this final offering was them ending on a high note. In my opinion they are one of the most underappreciated black metal acts to have existed and over the course of five albums covered three distinct moods of the genre; raw, melodic and finally intense. R.I.P. Tristessa.

Attribution: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/astarte-demonized-t3772.html