This is a very synth-packed and symphonic album from these Austrian black metal kings but it does not sound like ”Nachthymnen”, instead this attempts closer to something that EMPEROR tried with ”Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk”, but more successfully.

Vocals and synths are mixed loud in the foreground and drums are quite distant and this takes power away from the blast beats and most noticeable are the crashes, so they actually sound like an orchestra on this album. Guitars are complex and arranged so that they actually do have something else to do than play along with the synths. Synth arrangements are on this album co-operatively by ABIGOR, Tharen (DARGAARD/AMESTIGON, previous appearances on ABIGOR too) and guitarist Peter K.’s wife Lucia Faroutan of GRABESMOND, so the synths are really an all-star performance. The synths are in no way too cheesy, they might actually sound too classical and be too uneasily accessible for the fans of normal black-pop-synth.

There is a depth to ”Supreme Immortal Art” that requires multiple listens to appreciate. It will also cause confusion in it’s mix of intelligent/symphonic structures and lyrics that are more direct: ”If I am demon, all angels must die!”

This is really symphonic black metal in a proper way – the vocals might be too grim and loud for goth girls though.

© 2000 black hate