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This CD brings home some new music from the Czech Republic. Trollech have the first four songs while Heiden, no stranger to my ears, the last three.

Trollech is a three piece band and in the digipack you see them in black and red deep in the woods, a very nice shot by the way. Off both acts, they are the ones I enjoyed the most, at least on this split CD. The guys have a Pagan Black Metal musical direction with a nice epic feel mostly provided by the lead guitar. Often fast and furious in tempo, still managing to include calmer intros and some pretty pleasant melodic passages. Clean guitar work on "Naturia" and "Underworld Whirlwind" serve as appetizers for the harsher/rougher Black Metal. Then come "The Elf and the Forest Spirit", on which acoustic guitars are gracing the calmer moments. "Burning Glades" is more of the mid paced/crushing style while clean chants add a pleasant harmonious touch .

Heiden seem to have recorded three demo-like compositions here. They used to have a nice folksy touch in the past, but their last album ("Era 2") was much more of a "in your face" sort of release. Now on this split CD, the songs follow basically this path: mid-fast paces, crushing rough guitars, a bit of a progressive edge and rasps. The closing track, "Star Wanderers", comes with good riffs and some weird percussion, perhaps electronic ones. All of the songs from both bands are in their native tongue.

Looking forward to ear more Of Trollech. As a whole, this split will appeal to fans of rougher sounding Pagan Metal.