Over six years since the release of their masterpiece, The Return of the Black Death, one of the most dearly loved Christian black metal bands has finally come up for air with this breathtaking 19 minute EP titled, Det Tapte Liv (The Lost Life). The opener, "Rites of Death," is a blistering tune that will peal the paint off your walls with raging intensity. Occasionally, they will pause for a nice soft guitar piece and maybe a bell tolling in the background, but then they will rip right back into the brutal guitars, blasting, and horrifying black metal shrieking. However, of the five songs on this disc, only two would qualify as black metal songs. The other three are all mellow, yet very beautiful and haunting instrumentals. Ex-Vaakevandring Ronny Hansen takes over as the new vocalist and does nothing but impress. The drumming on this disc in incredible, but has already caused some controversy as the band hired Jan Alex Blomberg, (a.k.a. Hellhammer of Mayhem, Immortal, Kovenant, Arcturus, etc…) for this recording and for the recording of their upcoming full-length release. Production and packaging are superb! The first 1000 copies come in a limited edition black matte heavy paper box with a special heat-embossed black Antestor logo on top, designed to also house the upcoming full-length digipak that will be released later this year. This is a fabulous release that no black metal fan's collection should be without.
Editors' ratings — Doug 4/5, David 3/5
