• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Germany's Thulcandra play a straightforward style of Black/Death Metal on their debut Fallen Angel's Dominion. Present in great quantities are the typical ultra-fast blast beat drums, impressively sharp guitars and vocals that fluctuate between cold rasps and earthy growls. Vocalist/guitarist Steffen Kummerer and the guitar and bass playing Ludwig brothers, Sebastian and Tobias, along with Dark Fortress drummer Seraph (studio only), don't appear to want to change the Black Metal world. There's certainly nothing wrong with that approach, as long as a band brings the goods, something Thulcandra definitely do with the eight original songs (plus a Dissection cover) on Fallen Angel's Dominion.

Just looking at the cover of Fallen Angel's Dominion, you know you are in for something evil. The figure of death playing a flute fashioned from a human bone is striking. The artwork was provided by Kristian Wåhlin who also handled covers for Dissection, Emperor and Dark Funeral. Impressive company, indeed. As always, the music within tells the story and, after the instrumental "In the Realm of Thousand Deaths," Thulcandra open the gates of hell and unleash a furious assault starting with "Night Eternal." Mile a minute drums underscore Kummerer's unholy growls and both his and Sebastian Ludwig's dark and melodic riffs. The band alternates tempos within the song, which keeps the listener more engaged than if they just cranked along at 1,000 miles an hour for the entire album. This is the basic formula the band sticks with for the majority of Fallen Angel's Dominion, occasionally throwing something a bit different into the mix. Check out the acoustic guitar at the beginning of "Frozen Kingdom," which sounds a bit like an Iron Maiden intro, to see what I mean.

Overall, everything works very well on Fallen Angel's Dominion. There is a good deal of melody to offset the raw Black Metal aggression. The songs are very well written, if a bit repetitive. Fans of raw Black Metal should just move along, because there's not much for you to see here. However, BM fans with a broader taste and even fans of traditional Heavy Metal would do well to check out Thulcandra. There is nothing new here, just some really good Heavy Metal.