PECCATUM - STRANGLING FROM WITHIN (Candlelight Recs. - 1999): A beautiful opening of violins that leads to a harpsichord intro leads us into the world of Peccatum. This is Ihsahn´s (Emperor) project with the amazingly beautiful vocals of Ihriel and the orchestrations that in Emperor could seem out of place but here are of extreme beauty. It is really interesting the contrast of the male vocals (Ihsahn and Lord PZ) with the female (Ihriel). I think that here Ihsahn found a place to experiment things and stretch his music a little bit further than what he does in Emperor. For example there are certain passages with extremely vocals (kind of what King Diamond does). The opening "Speak of the Devil (As the Devil may Care) " is really amazing, the second song ("The Change") however is more similar to Emperor´s material. I think the best parts are were the similarity is not so strong and the passages with Ihriel´s vocals. There are great choruses in here (listen to the middle section of "The Change" or "The Song Whick No Name Carry" to know what I am talking about) and a killer guitar riff opens " The Song Whick No Name Carry " which is one of the best tracks of the album with twisted vocals and good orchestration. A really interesting album with a lot of experimentation within the black/dark metal realm that I think will please all those who love music to evolve and become better and different each time. My favorite tracks: "Speak of the Devil…", "The Sand was Made of Mountains" (with cleaner male vocals and interesting guitar solo) and "I Breathe Without Access to Air". Contact: www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
