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Fausttophel have technically been around since 1999, but broke up without releasing any material some time after the death of member Vyacheslav Vyrvikhvost. Afterwards, the band didn't meaningfully exist until Alexander Savinykh reformed it with fellow Ravenant member Valentin Samokhin in 2009. This is their third album since their revival, and the first of their work I have heard, so I can't compare it to their previous releases. What I can do, however, is tell you that while flawed, this album contains some powerfully good stuff on it.

No Liars Among the Fallen, as translated from their native Ukranian (apologies in advance for any errors I make trusting Google Translate), is a solid stab at Symphonic Black Metal similar to bands like Limbonic Art and Emperor when they were worth a damn. This isn't as chaotic or ferocious as Emperor used to get, but it still has plenty of aggression, solid riffs, and some really nice melodies throughout. They also make an extensive use of keyboards, but while the melodies are mostly solid, they also aren't very well integrated into the music, which makes songs like "Wings" and the 8-minute "Kubla Khan" a bit disjointed. That said, there's never any part of this that gets annoying, and they even experiment a little with the church-like chanting on the opening title track and the ritualistic atmosphere of "Sabbath" that leads into the excellent album closer "Lillith", which utilizes some damn solid folk melodies that I think the band should use more of. This album very much sounds like a couple of seasoned veterans trying to push for a more individual sound while staying firmly in the Black Metal camp, and while they aren't there yet, I'd say this is a pretty good start.