To begin, this material is VERY different from the old Thunderbolt. Although carrying on in the same musical manner, the production is very foriegn when compared to both their previous releases, "Beyond Christianity," and "Black Clouds Over Dark Majesty." Instead of the charecteristic "flat" sound, prevelant especially on "Beyond..." they opted to take a better produced avenue, where now the drums are most apparent, and the guitars serve more a purpose of texturing I would say, than a leader of the music. Keyboards are used magnificently, as they always have been in Thunderbolt, and they work well in faintly highlighting particularly emotional passages that appear predominantly throughout. They add a previously unknown dimension to the music that works well in this particular style. For a refrence I would recommend listening to the Celtic Winter, as the two disks have much in common.

There are eight songs, and the majority of them stick to "the" furious blasting style. Thunderbolt were never this fast in their previous releases, and I think the speed really makes their music all the more violent, and ultimately, all the more enjoyable. As I mentioned previously, there is a great reoccuring atmosphere which can be found throughout, relying on the union of dense, but faint guitar layering, and a texturing of accompanying synths which bring the music to a new cosmic dimension. Furthermore, they have retained the pagan feel to their music, that was found more on the split material than on the demo. There are a few sparse smatterings of well played acoustic guitars, which really brings the music an ancient feel.

Altogether, I was very impressed by the new cd. Although it does take some time to get used to, I really think it pays off in the end. Heil the sons of darkness!!

© 2002 orodruin