This was one of my favorite albums in 2008 and I've realized in the time its been since I initially heard the album its really only just got better. Battle Dagorath hails from an undisclosed part of the USA and this three piece black metal band features members from such obscure acts as Nekroholocaust and Warwulf.
I find that describing Battle Dagorath and their stunning debut 'Eternal Throne' to be a challenging task since it sounds both typical, but then again not so typical. Although the music is mostly very fast with plenty of blast beats and raw blazing fast guitars it does however remain very cold and atmospheric sounding throughout the albums entire fifty eight minute duration. When listening to this I can find similarities to a bands like Nocternity, Paysage d'Hiver, and Darkspace, but that aside Battle Dagorath sounds very original to my ears.
The music has a sick sort of melodicism to it, which is really something to behold and I honestly wouldn't even hesitate to say there is some sort of catchiness to be found within this bands work. Besides that the overall musicianship is absolutely beyond excellent with plenty of killer riffs and superb drumming. The vocals are also a key area in this recording since they are some of the best I've heard in recent memory. They range from harshly screamed grim vocals to some spoken passages and these demonic sounding beastly cries that are just incredible and work perfectly with the music.
The album also features two fantastic ambient pieces composed by Christoph of Vinterriket and as you might expect they are in the same vein as his usual work and as always they are some of the best within the dark ambient genre.
As a whole this is really one of the best black metal recordings to come out of the USBM scene in the past couple of years, however I'd imagine like most bands from the USA its more than likely getting overshadowed by there European black metal brethren.
Absolutely amazing album. I almost made the mistake of overlooking it a couple years back.
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