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Some bands leave a distinctive trace in your memory, for having a little something setting them from the crowd. Sear Bliss is one of those bands that I had the pleasure to review a couple years ago. It is now with as much pleasure that I'm writing about their brand new work, The Arcane Odyssey, in which the band kept their distinctive sound.

This Hungarian act not only uses keyboard in its epic song structure, but also the very warm sound of actual brass instrument, namely the trombone. Some may argue of the real or cult metal value of this and other instruments like keyboards, but I really don't care about those purists and narrow-minded individuals. For me, any instruments could be used in the vast musical realm called Black Metal, including acoustic guitars, mouth harp, violin, keys and trombone.

On The Arcane Odyssey, Sear Bliss is offering a mature opus of epic Black Metal with a somewhat heavier/crunchier sound. Some progressive flavors have been added while quite a few compositions contain nicely melodic passages graced with acoustic guitars. To name just a few outstanding tracks: Blood on the Milky Way, A Deathly Illusion, Lost And Not Found (a bit on the doom side), The Venemous Grace, and Somewhere. A quick note on the closing track, Path to the Mother Land, for its very cool folksy violin, flute and acoustic guitars.