ANCIENT CEREMONY - SYNAGOGA DIABOLICA (Alister recs. , 2000):
Technical Data:
Recorded at Alister Studio - Letwen - April/May 2000.
Recorded and mixed by P. Schu and Ancient Ceremonies. Mastered by Markus Stock.
Cover Art / Design: C. Anderle and Jones.
Track List: 1- Synagoga Diabolica, 2- Forbidden Fruit Sapientia, 3- Soul Darwinism, 4- Choir of Immortal Queens, 5- Deorum Contemptor, 6- Crowned Child, 7- Exodus 10, 28, 8- Creeping Death
The cover art really fooled me this time: I though this was a gothic type band with all the elements that the style has, but instead I found an original black/death metal band with lots of keyboards (and some power metal elements, for example the first riff and keyboard phrases from "Forbidden Fruit Sapientia" made me remind Yngwie Malmsteen´s "Disciples of Hell" ). The amazing here is that the band prefers to use more interesting elements than mere speed, for example great riffs ("Forbidden..." (2:31), some of them reminiscent from eighties thrash metal) or whispering and spoken voices apart from the screaming ones, cleaner parts. "Soul Darwinism" is pure hatred at high speed but it has its subtle elements like for example the guitar/keyboard phrases at 1:12 that completely change the feeling of the song making it sound more epic. This is an album to prove to those who think that the genre is stagnant that they are wrong. The album also includes a cover of Metallica´s "Creeping Death". Favorite tracks: "Soul Darwinism", "Choir of Immortal Queens" and "Deorum Contemptor". Contact: www.Alister-Records.de or www.ancient-ceremony.de
