Runemagick- Epic Death Metal

[Nightspirit]

This band slipped through my radar. Now, this is not to say that my frame of reference is infallible. I freely admit that even today, after a short 10 years of being engulfed in Black Metal and Death Metal that I'm still discovering bands and albums that stun and move me. Tonight however was a bit different. I found Runemagick some time ago on youtube and with a quick Metal Archives search I discovered the title of their first album. A mediafire download later and I sat upon the first album for at least four months. Some strange hand of fate allowed me to move those MP3 files onto my digital device this morning before I left for work. For whatever reason, it took until my drive home to play this album on a whim, not expecting anything. Though, what I got was highly enjoyable. As in the following audiofile thread I'm linking, I explain the nature of the band: it's reminiscent of Bolthrower, Therion and Entombed but oddly enough still maintaining their own blend of original style of what I believe is Epic, delivering Death Metal art. This is a great player from start to finish. It's tough in presentation, and conceals an insidious melodic nature, buried just right in the background to make an argument of esoteric motive. I sort of got high on the album, which is good. When I was still a teenager and Burzum or Antaeus was still new to me, I got the same type of revitalizing feeling listening to their respective releases. I think this is a great example of old school Death Metal. Not necessarily life changing, but without a doubt it is WORTH the time to invest a hearing - maybe much more.

http://www.deathmetal.org/forum/index.php/topic,16064.0.html

[ChapelOfTorment]

That first album of theirs is actually something of an anomaly: I've got that two CD compilation that has their first three albums, and the later two almost sound like a different band. I think that the remnant psyche of Sacramentum must have spilled over into Rudolfsson's new project; it sounds very black metal compared to the other Runemagick stuff. The Burzum comparison is  a good one. I actually like the second Runemagick album a lot as well: if the first Runemagick album crossbred Burzum's epic Romanticism with Swedish death metal, the second attempts a continuation of the more gothic (like the literature, not the subculture) elements of Asphyx's sound, as heard in this song (which benefits greatly from the epic intro track preceding it, but sadly no one has uploaded that to JewTube). Third one I'm not sure about yet; the first two Runemagick albums have monopolized my listening when it comes to that band.