Another double debut, this time for German atmospheric death metal band Scythe and for Germany-based thrash/death metal label Witches Brew. And, once again, both strike gold! Scythe's music resides firmly in the middle ground between thrash, old-school death, and black metal, drawing elements from all of them to build something quite unique. It does build atmosphere, though, but with the musical elements it puts it closer to death than black. Take the title track - a good mid-paced beat is built on with higher-string chords/diads that's not too far from black metal, but the slower pace is more in a thrash vein and the clean-vocal choirs on that song pull it more in that thrash/traditional metal vein. That constant use of elements from one style to build a song that evokes one of the other styles is constant throughout the album, shifting from song to song to keep the listener constantly looking forward to what's next without being able to predict it. Besides the masterpiece title track, "Passing through the Days of Life" and the final track, "Wintermoon", are quite notable. Will appeal to fans of all of the aforementioned styles and any metalhead looking for something different.

© 2003 lord vic