I had been
looking very much forward to this album. The problem about anticipation is that
most of the time one is disappointed...
First and primarily I have to conclude that the album is musically good. Black
Anvil delivers a sort of traditional black metal -
reminiscences of Dodheimsgard and Old
Man's Child are numerous. The strings are melodious and brutal, the drums fast
and tight, the vocals extremely good if one is into the aforementioned bands.
But compared to the last album from the American trio - the wicked Time insults
the Mind from 2008 - Triumvirate lacks variation. The new songs are good separately,
but they sound far too much alike when one spins the entire album. Also, the incorporation of
doom metal elements does not sit well with me. Black Anvil play best when they
play with fury. The doom parts - though they are rare - slow the music down.
Still, as I wrote in my review of Time Insults
the Mind: "Few are the bands that holds the blood-smeared banner of traditional
black metal high". Black Anvil is still among them, and fans of the genre should
go down Memory Lane and invest in this album.
Note that the track-list below is the official list. On the promo I review here,
there is no Von cover song. Instead there is a track named "Angels to Dust" (a
very good track actually), between the songs "Ultimate Reality" and "We Own
You".
