• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Formed back in 2002, the Canadian band Empyrean Plague had a string of self releases before this debut album. This band is now a quartet made of two guitar players/ vocalists, Mike Burge and Dave Strba, bassist Kyle Taylor and drummer Tyler Chartrand. They recently released Ancestral Ambers Shall Burn on their new label, Archaic North Entertainment.

Their music is being described as Folk/Black Metal. One of the things I'm having problems with this release is the sound. No, this is not as demo sounding type of disc, and the production work is pretty good in general. The guy at the controls should have turned down the lead guitar a bit, since it is way too loud and upfront. When the clean tremolo picking is triggered, it generates an ear piercing feeling that is not too pleasant, besides being distracting and not too Black Metal-ish. The Folk parts are narrowed down to a few acoustic breaks; by far the best and most harmonious moments, as far as I'm concerned. Most of this album is made of fast paced and generic Black Metal with predominant lead guitar and sometimes the double basses are way too strong also. Their songs lack variety and originality, so in the end, this album turned out to be so so. I did enjoy one song though, the title track, for its cool arpeggios, mid pace and epic feel.