Crystalium
Par Le Sang Le Feu Et Le Fer – Baise De La Charogne A L’Ange
[Independant]


Track listing :
1. EREP ERTON – De La Charogne A L’Ange
2. Pure
3. Par Le Sang De La Maudite Majesté – Les Prédateurs De La Race
4. Battalions Of The Great Monarch – Le Sang Coule Pour Vomir De Nos Veines
5. Svartalfar – Under The Blazon Of The European Fire
6. Rise Above The Oracle’s Landscape - NDE
7. We’re Flying To An Imperial Ocean Of Tyrannic Legions – Principe Immense de L’Etre

Total playing time : 44:06

With such a title (“By blood, fire and steel – Corpse’s Kiss to the angel” in English) and such a booklet, full of insane black and white photos, what could you expect from this band ???? Those who say “Barbaric Black Metal with some white-power tendencies” are totally wrong, except for the nazi tendencies ! It’s only another average keyboard-driven melodic Black Metal band, in the Craddle of Borgir vein.

Crystalium comes from Lyon (south of France) and is not really a new band (they practice for 3 or 4 years and have made numerous gigs), but this is their first recording, if I’m not wrong.

Compositions are not outstanding, neither are melodies. The playing abilities are good (even if not excellent), the Black Metal voice is efficient, some insane screams and chanting parts are rather good and dark, but the keyboard (too present in the mix) ruins everything…

Other things that make this another piece of crap are the lyrics, in English except for the third song and totally “cliché” : “The ancestral fullmoon enchants a beauty behind a shield of snow…”, really funny for a place where snow covers the landscape only 1 or 2 days per year (if there is any). The booklet is full of typing mistakes made by the CD factory, especially for the french lyrics, which make me thing that it has been produced outside of France.

An average first attempt…

Contact Crystallium at the following address : hammer-of-gones@ifrance.com


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