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Opera IX is a band that I really got into after their last release "The Black Opera". I thought this would definitely be a band to keep an eye on for the future. Well the future is here in the form of the new album and when I first got it I have to admit I was a bit nervous since the bio material mentioned line up changes. The line up changes included a new vocalist Madras and new drummer Taranis (Just got to love those black metal influenced names…no Riki Rocket or CC DeVille here…lol). I was hoping that with all these changes that things wouldn’t have changed too much but I was absolutely wrong. They have changed but in a very good way… :)

The new album embraces and advances all the things that I liked about their previous albums and take it all up a few notches. The sound before was an epic black metal sound, which I really enjoyed but they have expanded that and made it even more epic in scope as well as adding a more aggressive style of songwriting. The songs for the most part are faster than the last release but without losing that excellent guitar tone that really sucked me into their music in the first place. The vocals are no real change since I am one of those people that believe there are two kinds of black metal vocalists…some can pull off the screaming style while others just come off as sounding annoying (CoF ring a bell…heh). There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground and the vocals provided by Madras are fine for the style that Opera IX plays…no better but no worse either. Once again the highlight of the album for me is the excellent guitar work. Excellent riffs that draw you into the music and the excellent production also helps the guitars sound even better.

Overall an album that I was concerned by at first but at the end I can easily say this is the best album the band has released to date. Any fan of their previous work will certainly like this as well as those that are into epic or symphonic style of black metal. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED