After an intro that reminds me most of all of Bal-Sagoth, Swedish Thornium launch into a highly professional, Dimmu Borgir-like blast of symphonic black metal. Quite a blast, this one!

Thornium has existed since 1993. What? That long? Yeah, but they've taken some time out because bassist/vocalist Thypheuz got thrown in prison for a number of years. I have no idea why, but he got out again and the band released an album last year, and now there's this new one.

The themes are of course chaos, death and apocalypse as you might expect, synths are widely used to create some extra atmosphere of gloom, and successfully so along with Thypheuz's cold, snarling vocal. You'd also expect riff upon riff and blast beat drumming - you'll not be disappointed; it's there. But check out the title track: A pleasant break from the plain furiousity of the first five songs with it's spoken word and mid-tempo stomp. I dig. The same goes for I Am Perfection, something that in essence is a Judas Priest song, only turned black metal.

Recommended for fans of Dimmu Borgir and the like. Thumbs up from here.